For the first half of the opening set of her third-round match against Czech teenager Linda Noskova at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday, it looked as though World No.1 Iga Swiatek -- who lost to Noskova in the same round at January's Australian Open -- was heading for a surprise exit again.
The Czech's big hitting from the back of the court pushed Swiatek off the baseline, and her delicate drop shots kept Swiatek guessing. The 19-year-old, one of two teenagers in the field in Tennis Paradise, built herself a 4-2 first-set lead, and she had three more break points in the seventh game that would've given her an opportunity to serve for the set.
From there, a switch flipped. After winning nine straight games in her second-round win against Danielle Collins -- who also gave Swiatek all she could handle in Melbourne before the Pole escaped -- the top seed won 10 in a row to surge past Noskova 6-4, 6-0 and book a spot in the fourth round in Indian Wells for the fourth time.
Swiatek has, in fact, never lost before the Round of 16 in Tennis Paradise: In her main-draw debut, she reached the fourth round before winning it all in 2022; last year, she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Elena Rybakina.
"I made some mistakes at the beginning. I tried to maybe play to finish the rallies too early," Swiatek said afterwards. "But I knew that if I'm going to try to stay consistent and make a little bit less mistakes, my chances may come. So for sure wasn't comfortable, but I was ready to break back.
"I had to kind of change some negative thoughts that I had into just thinking that I wasn't thinking about just waiting for my chances. I knew that I'm experienced enough to just, you know, hold it together and not really let myself let these negative thoughts win. So I just did that.
"I think my game clicked a little bit more. I tried not to make these mistakes from faster rallies that we had, but actually we had a little bit less rallies, longer rallies later. So I just wanted to be consistent and use my advantages in the way this court works with my game."
More facts and stats from Swiatek's third-round victory include:
4: The 6-0 set against Noskova is Swiatek's fourth bagel set this year: In addition to Collins, she also beat Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-0 in Doha, and Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-0 at the United Cup.
11: A key stretch of the opening set saw Swiatek win 11 straight points. After saving the last of the aforementioned three break points and holding serve in the seventh game, she won the next two games at love to take the lead back on the scoreboard -- one she never relinquished.
9: Swiatek lost just nine points in the second set on the whole. Three of those were in the third game, as Noskova pushed her to deuce on serve, but Swiatek eventually held to stretch her lead to 6-4, 3-0.
68: Swiatek raised her first-serve percentage from 57% in the opening set to 68% in the second set -- and never faced a break point as a result.
5: Noskova, who is one spot off of her previous career-high at No.29 in the rankings currently, had won her last five matches against seeded players.
14: Swiatek is now 14-4 in her career against Czech players, and 1-1 this year (both against Noskova).
2012: The last time a No.1 seed won the title at Indian Wells was Azarenka 12 years ago. Swiatek is bidding to win a WTA 1000 title as the No. 1 seed for the third time.
For a spot in the quarterfinals, Swiatek will next face unseeded Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, who toppled No.18 seed Madison Keys -- who was making her season debut in Indian Wells after a shoulder injury forced her out of the Australian swing -- 6-4, 6-1.
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