With the 56-minute victory over Keys, Swiatek advances into an eye-catching semifinal against 2015 BNP Paribas Open champion Simona Halep. Halep defeated Petra Martic 6-1, 6-1 in the tournament's first quarterfinal.
Swiatek and Halep have met three times previously, all at Grand Slam events. Halep dispatched Swiatek at 2019 Roland Garros, Swiatek avenged that loss the very next year at Roland Garros, and Halep claimed a three-set victory at last year's Australian Open.
Sweeping through the draws: Swiatek is this year's tour leader in match-wins, with her triumph over Keys being her 18th of the season. Swiatek is still undefeated at WTA 1000 events in 2022, having claimed the title at the first WTA 1000 tournament of the year in Doha.
Swiatek be\comes the first player to reach the semifinals or better at four events this season. Along with her title run at Doha, she reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the Adelaide International 1.
Words from the winner: "I felt really comfortable," Swiatek said, after her fastest win of the event. "I'm also trying to get some fun as well from matches which are tight. Before where I felt stressed, I couldn't really make that fun. But right now I'm more focused on finding solutions and I want every match to be a lesson for me.
"I think Ash Barty has this kind of mindset. When she feels like the match is really tight, she treats it like a great experience because she can find solutions, actually be focused on that. It's a great challenge for her. I'm also trying to find fun when I'm playing, when the score is pretty tight."
Key moments: Swiatek reeled off the first five games of the match and was inches away from a first-set bagel before Keys fended off a set point with a backhand winner and held for 5-1.
Keys put up a stern effort in the next game, holding her only break point of the day, but Swiatek gritted through a tough game, converting her fourth set point and grasping the one-set lead.
Swiatek did get her bagel in the second set, dominating with her heavy groundstrokes and forcing errors from big-hitting Keys. The sturdy forehand which has brought Swiatek so much success this year ended the affair, as a winner from that side on her second match point put the Pole into her first Indian Wells semifinal.
Swiatek did get her bagel in the second set, dominating with her heavy groundstrokes and forcing errors from big-hitting Keys. The sturdy forehand which has brought Swiatek so much success this year ended the affair, as a winner from that side on her second match point put the Pole into her first Indian Wells semifinal.
I said in my previous post I hoped playing at night works out to her advantage, and boy did it ever.
That makes 4 semi finals for Iga already this year. Outstanding.
She came out storming and never stopped it was mighty impressive.
I was beyond happy she finally got it done in straight sets especially once I knew she would play Simona Halep next.
Iga knew it too as she mentioned in her post match interview she was a bit tired after 3 consecutive 3 setters so wanted to be done quicker.
You need your energy when you play Simona because there'll undoubtedly be a lot of running involved.
Now Iga gets a day off insuring she'll have plenty of time to recover and be ready for her biggest challenge yet this tournament.
Can't wait!.
Jazda Iga!
No comments:
Post a Comment