Saturday, March 12, 2022

Iga Swiatek fights off nerves of expectation to reach Indain Wells 3rd round

The highest seed remaining in the top half of the BNP Paribas Open draw following the pre-tournament withdrawal of Barbora Krejcikova, Iga Swiatek, too, was a set away from being bundled out of the tournament.

After dropping an opening set to Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina that saw seven combined service breaks, the No.3 seed reset and rallied with aplomb: she lost just one game the rest of the way to advance to the third round, 5-7, 6-0, 6-1.

"I think at the beginning, I was too focused on the conditions. I was a little bit distracted by what was going on with the wind ... I had to find my rhythm, and in the second set, I did that," Swiatek said on-court after the match.

"I'm pretty happy that I could turn my hat on to 'fight mode' and really stSwiatek was unable to turn leads of 3-1 and 4-2 into a one-set lead, as Kalinina won five of the last six games to steal the opener. However, the World No.50's serve remained under pressure in the next two sets, and Swiatek

The early stages of the second set proved the most competitive, as Swiatek was forced to save five break points in her first two service games. Kalinina had two chances to break in the first game to extend her lead, and later, three chances to get back on serve at 2-0.

Highlights: Swiatek def. Kalinina

Swiatek, who reached the fourth round in Indian Wells last year in her tournament main-draw debut, next faces either No.29 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark or Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia. ay focused, because that was the key."

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