INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- World No.1 Iga Swiatek eased into her third consecutive quarterfinal at the BNP Paribas Open after defeating No.79 Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday night.
The victory sets up a quarterfinal showdown against former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki on Thursday. The Dane advanced to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal since 2019 by defeating Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-2 earlier in the evening.
"I think she's playing great even after the maternity break," Swiatek said on court. "She was fighting to come back.
"I have huge respect. I'm going to prepare like any other, but off the court she's a great person."
On a cool night in the California desert, Swiatek ran off eight consecutive games from 1-1 to take control of the 71-minute match and improve to 3-0 against Putintseva. Swiatek struck 17 winners while holding Putintseva to just four. The victory improved Swiatek to 17-2, tying her with Elena Rybakina and Emma Navarro for the most wins this year.
"I just knew I had to keep my focus because she was trying some different stuff out there," Swiatek said, referring to Putintseva's underarm serve in the second set. "But I really wanted to just play my game and focus on what I wanted to do."
Putintseva advanced to the fourth round at Indian Wells for the first time in her career by beating two Top 20 players in Madison Keys and Ekaterina Alexandrova. It was the first time she had done so in a single event for the first time in four years.
Playing in her first night session match of the tournament, Swiatek seamlessly adjusted to the different conditions. She credited intel she received from Wozniacki about adjusting her string tension and specifically scheduled her practice session the day before to play under the lights.
As Swiatek began to run away with the match, Putintseva threw every tactic she could to unmoor her. From an underarm serve to unleashing one of the biggest forehands she could muster, Putintseva was able to bring a sense of chaos to the match in the second set.
"I can only be responsible for what's going on with me," Swiatek told reporters. "I want to keep my standards high no matter what's going on, and I think this match was a test for my mental training that I did. I'm happy with the way I was focused and really just, I didn't really care about what's going on. I'm prepared that many things can happen on court."
Swiatek is playing a WTA 1000 tournament as the top seed for the 12th time in her career, trailing only Serena Williams (26) and Wozniacki (13). A champion in Doha last month, Swiatek is bidding to win her second title of the season this week. She has not lost before the semifinal stage at a WTA 1000 tournament since 2023 Rome.
Swiatek will face Wozniacki for a second time in her career and the first time since their initial meeting at 2019 Toronto. Then a qualifier ranked No.65, Swiatek stunned No.18 Wozniacki 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"Obviously she's playing good tennis, playing powerfully," Wozniacki said. "I practiced with her as well a few times after I have come back, during the US Open as well. I know how she plays, but it's one thing knowing how she plays and also playing against her in a full match.
"I know that I have to play my best tennis to compete against her, and that's what I hope to do."
The winner will face either Marta Kostyuk or Anastasia Potapova in the semifinals on Friday.
I had honestly forgotten how childish Putinseva can be, glad Iga handled everything with class. I mean feet shuffling, really?. How very Ostapenko.
It's amazing to think that just 5 years ago Iga wasn't even in the top 50 she was an 18 year old underdog playing Caro Wozniacki a top 20 player in Toronto (a former world number 1 herself).
Caro's last match in Toronto as well before maternity leave. And now it's Wozniacki who's the underdog and Iga the current raining world number 1.
Sport is wild sometimes.
I'm really looking forward to this match. Just watching how far Iga has come since then will be fun.
And a real test for Wozniacki as good as she has been this tournament and as well as she has been playing. It'll be totally different to play Iga in a real match.
Can't wait!.
I'm a bit sad it wasn't Angie Kerber who won with Caro, but she was sadly hampered by a back issue.
Hopefully it's nothing serious and just needs a few days rest.
Angie has been a real joy to watch this tournament and it'd be a real shame not to see her in Miami next week.
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