World No.1 Iga Swiatek will play for her second BNP Paribas Open title on Sunday after beating No.31 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in Friday's semifinals, 6-2, 6-1.
Swiatek needed just about three quarters of an hour to build a set and a break lead in her second tour-level meeting against the Ukrainian -- who started her first career semifinal at WTA 1000 level or high erratically by making 15 unforced errors in the opening set. Kostyuk received a medical timeout after dropping serve for a fourth time in the match in the third game of set two, during which she appeared to jar her foot on the court surface at one stage, and though she continued the match, Swiatek eventually put a bow on victory after 69 minutes on court.
Swiatek will face No.9 Maria Sakkari in Sunday's final. The match is a rematch of the 2022 Indian Wells final, which Swiatek won 6-4, 6-1.
Read on for more stats from Swiatek's semifinal victory, which puts her into her second Hologic WTA Tour final of the season.
2016: Swiatek is the first No.1 seed to reach the Indian Wells final since Serena Williams in 2016. The last No.1 seed to win the title was Victoria Azarenka in 2012.
0: Swiatek did not face a break point in the match, and only dropped 10 points on serve. Conversely, she broke Kostyuk five times in six chances.
6: Swiatek only made six unforced errors in the match, striking 14 winners. Kostyuk hit 23 unforced errors to her 17 winners.
19: The win is Swiatek's 19th on tour this year, and breaks her tie for the tour lead with American Emma Navarro (18).
22: Swiatek is now 22-7 in her career in WTA semifinals, and she'll bid for her 19th career title on Saturday.
3: Swiatek is bidding for her third career WTA 1000 title as the No.1 seed. In addition to her victory in Doha last month, she also won the crown as the top seed in Rome two years ago.
10: Should she win Saturday's final, Swiatek will be the 10th woman all-time to win two Indian Wells titles. No woman has ever won more than two in tournament history.
17: Swiatek has not dropped a set en route to the final, and has only lost 17 games in five matches.
37: Swiatek has now made the final in 37% of the WTA 1000 main draws she's played in her career (10/27), which puts her ahead of Serena Williams (36.7%) for the highest rate since the format began in 2009.
26: Despite the loss, Kostyuk will reach a new career-high ranking of No.26 on Monday.
Well I certainly didn't have a rematch of the 2022 Indian Wells final on my bingo card.
A nice surprise.
Switching coaches for Sakkari (and hiring former coach of Pegula) is definitely working out.
Iga was pretty much flawless, it was her best match of the tournament if not the year thus far.
I love watching her when she's this loose and in full flow (even smiling when she makes an error).
Reminds me of watching Roger Federer when he was invincible.
I'm 50/50 on wanting the match to be competitive, and hoping Iga does what only Iga can and dominate it.
Although I'm fully expecting it to be a display of amazing physical prowess on both sides.
I think it'll definitely come down to who handles the occasion and their nerves better in the important moments.
Jazda Iga as always we believe in you!.
No comments:
Post a Comment