Iga Swiatek fought back from a set down for the second straight match as she powered past rising teen Clara Tauson at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday.
No.3 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland made it into the Round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open for the second straight year after notching a comeback win over No.29 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark, 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-1.
Swiatek, 20, has now reached the Round of 16 in both of her appearances at Indian Wells, following her tournament debut last year. But the World No.4 needed 2 hours and 18 minutes to hold off surging 19-year-old Tauson, who was playing in her first BNP Paribas Open main draw.
Winning streak continues: With the win over Tauson, Swiatek has won her seventh straight match, and is undefeated at WTA 1000 events so far this season. Swiatek won the first WTA 1000 event of the year in Doha last month.
Swiatek also had to fight back from a set down in her opening round against Anhelina Kalinina, but in both matches, the Polish star came back from a close first-set loss to dominate in sets two and three.
2022 Australian Open semifinalist Swiatek has now won 17 matches so far in the season, which leads the Hologic WTA Tour this year. The Pole still has a chance to break into the Top 3 of the rankings for a new career-high after the event, depending upon results for the rest of the fortnight.
Iga speaks: "I'm pretty happy that I was able to come back again this season from one set down," Swiatek said, in her post-match press conference. "I felt like physically I'm really well prepared and I could use all my strengths, even after two hours of playing. So I'm pretty proud of that.
"The placement of [Tauson's] serve is pretty smart. It's sometimes hard to predict where she's going to serve and she's serving pretty fast, so that was tricky.
"I think you have to put pressure on her too because she likes being aggressive as well and playing fast, and her hand is pretty strong. I feel like she was hitting full power sometimes when I didn't put much pressure on her. So I need[ed] to do that."
Tale of the match: An hour-long opening frame saw Swiatek cede a break lead of 4-2 to teenage Tauson, and the Dane took advantage of her opportunity, excelling on returns to sweep the final four points of the first-set tiebreak.
But Swiatek came out on a mission in the second set, increasing her power and reaping a quick 4-1, double-break lead thanks to her big hitting. At 5-2, a forehand winner gave Swiatek her first set point, which she converted with an unreturnable serve.
2020 Roland Garros champion Swiatek dominated in the decider as well, once again going up by two breaks to 4-1. This time around, she earned a third straight break for good measure, reeling off the last six games of the affair to clinch victory.
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