Iga Swiatek falls short of another Sunshine Double

It was a day to remember for Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Miami Open on Monday as she defeated world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in a huge result in Florida. Swiatek had been in hot pursuit of securing the Sunshine Double after her impressive triumph at Indian Wells, but she was not able to match Alexandrova's level in the evening clash as she surprisingly crashed out of the tournament.

Iga Swiatek saw her pursuit of a second career Sunshine Double come to an abrupt end after she suffered an upset defeat to Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Miami Open.

Alexandrova pulled off a memorable result courtesy of an inspired performance as she out-battled the Pole to come through in straight sets, 6-4 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals in Florida.

Swiatek hit just eight winners with 16 unforced errors in a display that she will want to quickly forget about, but the evening belonged to Alexandrova, who is now into the last eight of a WTA 1000 tournament for the third time in her career.


"We played quite a few times before and sometimes it was three sets," Alexandrova said. "I think sometimes I was quite close to it but still far away.

"Winning against her, of course it feels great. I'm not sure if it's a surprise or not, but I just worked quite hard on the court, and it paid off."

Asked what particularly worked for her in the surprise victory, she added: "Just trying to go more inside the court, trying to hit everything in front of you so the opponent doesn't have as much time.

"I think when it goes in its very good but sometimes it's not working. But today, it worked.
"Second quarter-final here, second year in a row. Beating Iga after so many tries and she's No.1, it's the first time I beat a No.1. All three things are very special to me."

Alexandrova has also defeated Donna Vekic and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her run to the quarter-finals, and she will next face American Jessica Pegula, who overcame Emma Navarro in straight sets, 7-6(1) 6-3.


As for Swiatek, she was left to reflect on a hugely frustrating evening, but with her usual perspective.
"Disappointed, for sure, because I thought I was going to play better here in Miami," Swiatek said.


"She played an amazing match and for sure, she was the better player out there today.
"Her serve, I had a hard time reading it. I got a little bit tense when I couldn't return well."

eurosport.com

I'm not sure Iga got used to the different conditions between Indian Wells and Miami this time. 

Never really looked comfortable from the start of the tournament (if her performance with Noskova was any indication). 

But I'm still proud and happy of how far she got. She didn't play Miami last year due to the rib issue, so every round here this year was a bonus. 

But of course the media will see this loss as Iga losing to a big hitter once again. Never mind that she actually has a good H2H with Alexandrova (unlike with Ostapenko who's a big hitter herself).

Alexandrova is the type of player who like Ostapenko can beat anyone on a good day. She can just hit a real purple patch. This was one of those times. I'm not reading too much into this loss. 

There's a reason literally 4 or 5 women have won the Sunshine Double (Iga being one of them). It's damn hard.

I'm sure Iga was tired after the past few weeks winning Indian Wells and Doha before that. 

So I'm happy she'll get a bit of rest before playing in the Billie Jean King Cup in Switzerland (still on the hard court). And then switches over to her favourite surface after. 

I do hope Iga starts managing and prioritizing her schedule better. Because playing another 60+ matches this season is not good for anyone. 

Don't care how good or fit you are eventually your body will start to break down from strain. 

Last year Iga was the only woman on tour to play over 70 matches. 

The only person to equal that was Danil Medvedev on the men's tour; and even he took an extended break before the start of the following year.   

She did mention in an interview that she plans to play a full season this year, but will definitely curtail things in 2025 (especially with all the Masters events extending an extra week).

With so many events in the calendar both tours certainly don't make things easy in that regard. 

Iga Swiatek survives 3rd meeting of the season with Noskova at Miami Open

MIAMI -- World No.1 Iga Swiatek's bid to sweep the Sunshine Double continues at the Miami Open after the Polish star held on to defeat No.31 Linda Noskova 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4 in the third round on Sunday night. The win is Swiatek's first comeback win from a set down this season.

In the third meeting between the two this season, Swiatek came from a set down to improve her head-to-head to 3-1 over the 19-year-old Czech. Earlier this season, Noskova stunned Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open en route to her first major quarterfinal.

The 2-hour and 33-minute victory improved Swiatek's tour-leading record to 22-2 this season. Noskova dropped to 12-6.

"As you can see, it's not like we can take everything for granted," Swiatek said. "You can be in trouble at the early stages of the tournament. No sense to talk about Sunshine Double.

"For sure I'm taking just experience from this match and I know what I have to focus on little bit more because it wasn't like I felt 100 percent comfortable all the time. I mean, I thought it's going to be easier to get used to the new conditions and new balls, but it's been tricky today."

Coming off her victory at the BNP Paribas Open last week, Swiatek is bidding to become the second woman to sweep the Sunshine Double twice. Stefanie Graf is the only woman to complete the feat so far, winning Indian Wells and Miami in 1994 and 1996. Swiatek swept the back-to-back WTA 1000s during her historic 37-match win streak in 2022.

Noskova fought off an early lead by Swiatek, wiping out a set point to win a tightly-contested first-set tiebreak. Serving up 6-5 in the tiebreak, Swiatek set up a short forehand but pushed the ball beyond the baseline with her 20th unforced error keep Noskova in the set. After Swiatek saved a set point with a clean backhand winner, Noskova converted her second chance with a looping forehand that Swiatek helplessly watched drop inside the sideline.

Swiatek stormed back immediately in the second set, racing to a seemingly safe 5-1 lead. But the Pole's precision game remained shakey. Noskova reeled off three consecutive games and earned a break point to level to 5-5. But Swiatek saved set point to hold and force the match into a deciding frame.

The opening games of the final set remained close. Noskova escaped Swiatek's early return pressure, saving break point to hold to 1-0. But a double-fault at 2-2 gave Swiatek her second break point of the game and she converted as Noskova flew a forehand long.

Noskova made one final push. With Swiatek serving to close out the win at 5-4, the Czech earned triple break point with a clean forehand winner. The World No.1 responded with class, striking three clean winners to get to deuce and closed out the match on her first match point.

Swiatek will have a quick turnaround, but the 22-year-old is keen to move on from her up-and-down performance.

"You know that I'm an over-thinker," Swiatek said. "Usually the best tactic for me is to let it go. I want to use this experience. I'm pretty sure tomorrow I'm going to do that if everything goes well. Usually also these kind of things just settle in my head on their own. I'm just going to trust that it's going to be like that again."

Swiatek will face 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the Round of 16 on Monday. Alexandrova advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Swiatek leads the head-to-head 3-1.

wtatennis.com


Talk about 2 very different matches!. The match in Indian Wells a week ago, or even the first match in Miami was like night and day compared to this. The term winning ugly perfectly incapsulates what transpired in this one.

 
What looked like in both sets to be a fairly routine win. Turned into quite an unexpected rollercoaster!.

With both players struggling to find rhythm on serve and making an uncharacteristic amount of unforced errors.

I have to wonder if along with the change of venue the night conditions is what really threw Iga off here (especially as it got later into the night).

She was after all suppose to start her Miami campaign at night the match prior, but got moved due to rain so it ended up being a day match.

I admit to peeking through my fingers when Iga went down love-40 serving for the match. Still not quite sure how she got out of it. But I guess the old adage of champions find a way certainly fits here.

Definitely not one to remember in terms of quality, but certainly for the grit Iga showed in her worst performing days. So we wipe the slate clean, and live to fight and do better another day.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek triumphant in return to Miami Open

In the 100th WTA 1000 match of her career, World No.1 Iga Swiatek of Poland powered to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Italy's Camila Giorgi in the second round of the Miami Open on Saturday.

"I was feeling really pretty confident and I just wanted to see how I'm going to feel the surface," last week's Indian Wells champion Swiatek said after her latest win. "It was all really comfortable, so I'm happy."

Swiatek, the 2022 Miami Open champion, took just 67 minutes to dismiss big-hitting Giorgi, a former Top 30 player currently ranked No.107. Swiatek, who had a first-round bye, has not lost her opening match at any tournament since 2021 Cincinnati.

Top-seeded Swiatek now holds a 2-1 lead in her head-to-head with Giorgi. This was their first meeting outside of the Australian Open, with Giorgi winning in Melbourne in 2019 and Swiatek prevailing Down Under in 2021.

Keeping it 100: With her victory on Saturday, Swiatek has won 81 of her first 100 WTA 1000 matches. Only Serena Williams notched more wins in her first 100 matches at WTA 1000-level, with an 87-13 record. Swiatek and Maria Sharapova are tied for second place with matching 81-19 records.

If Swiatek goes all the way to the title this week, she will become only the second woman to pull off the Sunshine Double (winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year) two times. Stefanie Graf is currently the only woman to have achieved the feat twice, in 1994 and 1996. Swiatek got her first Sunshine Double in 2022.

By the numbers: Giorgi hit six double faults in her first two service games as Swiatek raced to a 4-0 lead on Saturday. Swiatek stared down four break points at 4-1 but got out of that jam on her way to the one-set lead. Those would prove to be the only break points she faced all day.

Swiatek had an equally easy time in the second set as she romped to her tour-leading 21st win of the year. Swiatek converted five of her 11 break points on the day, and her 18 unforced errors were exactly half of Giorgi's 36.

Noskova awaits again: Swiatek will see a familiar face in the third round when she takes on No.26 seed Linda Noskova. Czech teenager Noskova defeated qualifier Maria Timofeeva 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.

Swiatek and Noskova have already battled twice in the third round of huge events this year. The 19-year-old Czech Noskova stunned Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open, en route to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Swiatek got her revenge when she beat Noskova earlier this month in the same round at Indian Wells.

"Playing against [Noskova] is tough, as you could see in Australia," Swiatek said. "I'm going to focus on myself and learn what I did wrong, what I did good on our last matches and just use that knowledge so I can play in a solid way, really efficiently."

wtatennis.com

Basically the one day rain delay took longer than this match :D. Iga really didn't have to do a whole lot, Georgi give her a lot of free points with double faults. 

Iga Swiatek 2-time Indian Wells Champion!

  

World No.1 Iga Swiatek rolled to her second BNP Paribas Open title on Sunday in Indian Wells by toppling Maria Sakkari -- who she beat 6-4, 6-1 to win in the California desert two years ago -- by a 6-4, 6-0 final score.

Swiatek won the last eight games of the 68-minute match, in which she won the first three in 15 minutes on court. Sakkari missed more balls than she made early on, as Swiatek won 12 of the first 15 points, but there was a match to be had for much of the first set. From 0-30 down on her serve in the fourth game, No.9 seed Sakkari won three straight games to level the first set at 3-3 -- but from 4-4, the World No.1 found another level.

By the end of the match, she broke Sakkari five times, and only lost five points in the second set. Behind 15 winners overall, Swiatek won 12 straight sets in her second BNP Paribas Open title run, and lost just 21 games.

“I'm really proud of myself,” Swiatek said afterwards. “I'm super happy. I mean, even though this tournament looked like, the scores, maybe I had everything under control, it wasn't from the beginning to the end so easy. So I'm happy I could improve during the tournament. I felt really good on the last two matches, big amount of confidence.

"I would say at the beginning of the tournament I felt like I didn't have much luck with the draw," Swiatek continued. "I played opponents that sometimes I struggled with. I lost against Linda [Noskova] in Australia this year. Then I was pretty stressed actually before facing Caroline Wozniacki [in the quarterfinals], because I felt like we haven't played in a while. I didn't really know how her game feels on my racquet. I just have huge respect for her. This was the kind of match where I had to kind of work through the stress.

"But then after that I just felt like I could actually play my game more freely."

Sakkari and Swiatek were the third pair of players to meet in multiple finals in Indian Wells, joining Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport (1998, 2000) and Kim Clijsters and Lindsay Davenport (2003, 05). The two have now split six career meetings, all of which have been decided in straight sets, and Swiatek has won the last three.

Swiatek now owns eight career WTA 1000 titles, and 19 career Hologic WTA Tour titles in all. She's now won at least two titles in each of the last four seasons.

wtatennis.com

I don't have much to say about this match really, other then absolutely outstanding. Just Iga being Iga. 

That's how legendary champions bounce back from a loss in a Grand Slam. 

Get some well deserved rest champ!. 

See you in Miami!.

More fun with Optaace stats

19 - Iga Swiatek is the player with the most titles after her first 23 WTA level finals in the Open Era (19, level with Chris Evert, Gail Sherriff and Nancy Richey). Incredible.


36 - Only Martina Navratilova (44) has won more top-10 matches within her first 50 such clashes in the last 40 years than Iga Swiatek (36). Unimaginable.


10 - Iga Swiatek is the first player to win 10+ consecutive matches against top-10 since … Iga Swiatek - she is the fourth player in 2000s with multiple such streaks after Venus Williams, Justine Henin and Serena Williams. Repeat.


3 - Iga Swiatek is the third player to secure multiple titles in Indian Wells before turning 23 after Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters. Paradise!

Iga Swiatek makes 2nd Indian Wells Final

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.

wtatennis.com

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!. 

 

Iga Swiatek gets the better of Wozniacki who retires mid match due to foot injury at Indian Wells

 

World No.1 Iga Swiatek moved into her third consecutive BNP Paribas Open semifinal after former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki retired from their quarterfinal match on Thursday, due to a right foot injury. The final score was 6-4, 1-0, ret.

Swiatek, the 2022 Indian Wells champion, battled back from 4-1 down in the opening set to clinch the one-set lead. Wozniacki, who won the Indian Wells title back in 2011, took a medical time-out for her foot between sets, and the Dane made it only one more game before ending the match.

"I'm hoping that Caroline will be better and she'll be ready for Miami," Swiatek said, after the match. "It's not the best way to win.

"But I'm happy that I played well enough in first set to win it. For sure it was tight. At the beginning we had many longer rallies, so I felt like I needed to be solid and be ready. At the end I'm happy that I used the chances in the last games."

Champs' clash truncated: It was a sudden conclusion to an anticipated match between two Grand Slam champions. Swiatek and Wozniacki had only played once before; Swiatek won 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their previous meeting at Toronto in 2019, when Wozniacki was ranked No.18 and Swiatek No.65.

Wozniacki, who was contesting her first WTA quarterfinal in four years, looked sharp in the opening games, as she sought her first win over a reigning World No.1 since she defeated Simona Halep to win her lone Grand Slam title at the 2018 Australian Open.

The 33-year-old mother-of-two, who returned from a three-year maternity leave last summer, saved three break points in her first service game. Wozniacki then used a strong angled return to break for a 3-1 lead, and a quick consolidation followed, giving Wozniacki the 4-1 lead. But Swiatek's heavy hitting helped her get the break back two games later, and the top seed also prevailed in a lengthy ninth game, converting her fourth break point of that tussle to lead 5-4.

Swiatek won her fifth straight game with an ace, closing out the set in emphatic fashion before Wozniacki's injury stopped the clash shortly thereafter, following 65 minutes of play.

Kostyuk awaits: Swiatek will take on No.31 seed Marta Kostyuk in Friday's semifinals. Swiatek defeated Kostyuk in their only previous meeting, notching a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Ukrainian in the Round of 16 at 2021 Roland Garros.

The 21-year-old Kostyuk booked a spot in her first career WTA 1000 semifinal with a 6-0, 7-5 win over No.28 seed Anastasia Potapova on Thursday. It was Kostyuk's first win in three career meetings with Potapova.

"I practiced with [Swiatek] in Doha, I was really looking forward to actually playing her in the match," Kostyuk said, looking ahead to the semis. "I think it will be a great match.

"I don't know what else to say, because I'm excited, and I played her in Paris three years ago, and it was a bit different match. We were both in different positions. Even more exciting now."

wtatennis.com

The first set was a really fun tussle, I admit I didn't give Wozniacki enough credit. I honestly thought Iga would just blow her off the court. 

But she really held her own with her trademark retrieval skills. 

Frustrating Iga making her hit some errors and even getting ahead in the set. 

I'm actually really disappointed she had to retire due to an injury, because I was looking forward to Iga solving the puzzle in the 2nd set. 

As she herself mentioned in her post match interview there were some things she was going to implement in set 2 that she didn't get to. 

I wouldn't mind if these 2 met again at some point this season.

Kostyuk next for Iga. She's playing well and it'll be their first meeting on a hard court. Could be a good one if both play at a high level.

So that's a 3rd consecutive semi final at Indian Wells. 

There's always so much talk about Iga's biggest rivels Sabalenka and Rybakina, but never enough about just how consistent she is at these events (at only 22!). 

It is extremely impressive, the stuff of legends really. Feels like she doesn't get enough credit for just how hard that is. 

What better way to end this post then with some more OptaAce fun because Iga just loves adding to it :)

9 - Iga Swiatek has won her last nine meetings against former World No. 1 - her last such defeat was back in January 2022 in Adelaide vs Ashleigh Barty. Status.


88.9% - Among players with at least 15 matches in Indian Wells, only Steffi Graf (89.5%) has a highest winning percentage than Iga Swiatek (88.9%, 16-2) at this event. Fabulous.

14 - Iga Swiatek is the player with the fewest games lost en route to make the semi-finals in Indian Wells (14) since 2008 (Jelena Jankovic, 12). Path.

3 - Iga Swiatek has become the fourth player to make three consecutive semi-finals appearances in Indian Wells since the inception of the tournament in 1989 after Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis and Maria Sharapova. Treble.


In completed matches before the semis, she's — 32-0 since the start of 2023 — 48-2 since the start of 2022 That's 13 semifinals in the last 16 events, across 3 seasons.


3rd straight Indian Wells SF 6th straight WTA 1000 SF 14th WTA 1000 SF overall


Also this happened during the men's quarterfinals:

And it ended with this amusing exchange from Iga at the press conference:

Iga Swiatek sets up a quarterfinal with Caroline Wozniacki at Indian Wells

                                                                                                                                                

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.

wtatennis.com

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. 

Iga Swiatek avenges Aussie Open loss to Linda Noskova at Indian Wells

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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Iga Swiatek gets past Collins in less dramatic fashion in Indian Wells opener

 

Six weeks after they met for a dramatic Australian Open encounter, Iga Swiatek faced far fewer problems in a rematch with Danielle Collins, advancing, 6-3, 6-0 to ease into the third round at the BNP Paribas Open.

"I'm happy that I started this tournament well because first rounds aren't easy, especially against Danielle," Swiatek said on court. "She's really hitting the ball hard, pretty unpredictable. I wanted to be ready for everything, and I'm happy to be through."

The world No. 1 trailed Collins by a double break before ultimately solving the soon-to-be-retired American in Melbourne, and applied lessons learned from that meeting with aplomb at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, streaking through the final nine games to ultimately clinch the contest in 80 minutes on Stadium 1 Court.

"It feels like home. I remember coming here when I was younger and it was all pretty overwhelming. Right now, I have a lot of support and the tournament is taking care of us in a really nice way. It feels amazing, and hopefully I'm going to be able to stay here as long as possible."

March is a special month for the top seed, who is celebrating the two-year anniversary of when she first topped the WTA rankings after becoming the youngest woman to capture a Sunshine Double in Indian Wells and Miami. Reaching the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in 2023, Swiatek, who has now spent 93 weeks as No. 1, has proven plenty comfortable in Tennis Paradise—even against formidable opposition from Collins.

A former world No. 7, Collins announced 2024 would be her final season on tour after narrowly losing to Swiatek in Australia, but has nonetheless played solid tennis in the weeks since the shock revelation and looked poised to push Swiatek again in the desert.

The pair traded well-earned service holds for three games apiece, with the turning point arriving when Swiatek served her way through a marathon seventh game. From saving two break points at 15-40, the Pole went on a tear, winning 10 of 11 points to secure the opening set and won a sixth straight game when she outrallied Collins for a set and double-break lead.

"I started to make a few less mistakes, which gave Danielle a chance to make a few more. It's a small difference but at the end, I was ready to play well in those important moments, on break points and stuff like that. I'm happy I kept my focus and stayed with my game, no matter what Danielle was doing on the other side of the net."

A flummoxed Collins later missed wide off the forehand side and Swiatek was able to serve for the match up 5-0. Holding off a late surge, Swiatek saved two break points—one with a sweeping forehand into the open court—and a well-struck serve brought her to match point. Collins saved it with brave forehand winner but Swiatek held firm, ending the match with a backhand putaway.

Swiatek nonetheless remains in a tricky section of the draw, one that could see her face another Australian Open rival in the third round as Linda Noskova will take on Camila Giorgi later on Friday. Noskova, the No. 26 seed, stunned Swiatek in three sets en route to the quarterfinals Down Under.

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