Iga Swiatek falls in Miami Quarterfinals to 19 year old wild card

 

Well this was unexpected to say the least especially after her match with Svitolina the other day. 

Every player has an off day and this was probably one of Iga's worst. 

Who knows maybe playing until midnight the day prior totally screwed up her sleep and routines (which is not uncommon and understandable). 

Whatever the reason this was definitely a case of Iga beating herself more than being beaten by her younger opponent.

19 unforced errors in the first set.

And did not hold serve once.

Quite a few forced errors with deep shots on the baseline from the youngster wild card Alexandra Eala. But Iga had plenty of breaks and break chances. 

Not being able to serve out the 2nd set at 4-2 and 5-4 is something she'll definitely have a lot of regrets about.

So for just the 3rd time in her young career Iga gets beaten by someone outside the top 100 (140 to be exact). That will probably sting a bit too. 

I've said this before but it's hard for her fans to reconcile this current level Iga's showing with the level we all know she's capable of. 

A level she herself set over the past 4 years so I can only imagine how Iga herself must be feeling being a perfectionist. 

I think at this point it's more mental than anything else honestly and a lack of belief and confidence. 

And if she is still thinking about losing the number 1 ranking and getting it back she definitely needs a different mind set because I doubt this sot of self imposed pressure is helping. 

On top of that dealing with things behind the scenes, the doping suspension, a new coach and the stalker harassing her during practice in Miami  is quite a lot to handle. 

I'm sure that's had an influence as well on many different levels.

It's all caused her to not feel any joy in her game at the moment I think. Just frustration and anger (which I thought had turned a corner in the Svitolina match) but today she showed it's still very much there.

She didn't seem to be listening to her coach who was actually giving her good instructions, and went on to mention to the Polish media that she actually doesn't like to be given constant point by point advice from the box. Which was very evident when she worked with Tomasz Wiktorowski. 

Although that might have been partially due to different coaching rules which were either none existent or limited at the time as opposed to now. So they definitely need to come to a consensus on that before the clay swing.

Maybe this early exit will turn into a blessing. Iga can have a bit of a rest at home before starting training on clay. 

The first tournament on clay will be Stuttgart so Iga can drive there and have her Dad for support.

Spending a few days at home might give her some peace and stability away from the craziness of the sport.

My hope is that just being on clay will give her a sense of comfort and confidence in her game (which she's in dire need of at the moment). 

On the other hand she will also be under immense pressure as the favourite having won all the clay court events last year (minus Stuttgart where she could make up some ground). Having that many points to defend could be a bit of a double edged sword. 

But if there was a surface I trust Iga to problem solve on the best and turn her forehand back into a huge weapon. It is clay. If she starts making the same type of errors on clay then I'll be really worried. 

I think Iga herself trusts her abilities on this surface more than any other. And who knows maybe this will be the year she finally figures out grass (I'm gonna keep saying it until I dream it into existence).

For all the analyzing and criticizing of Iga that I do on here, the main thing as a fan for me is to see her happy and enjoying the process and what she's doing.

Apart from anything else, I hope she gets to feel some joy in this sport again (the way she did at the beginning of the year in Australia). 

Hopefully clay will remind her of that. 

I'll be there to support her regardless. In good times and bad. 

Keep your head up Iga, see you in April.

   

Iga Swiatek battles past Svitolina for another quarterfinal in Miami

 

World No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland moved one step closer to her first title of the year with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the Round of 16 at the Miami Open.


Swiatek needed 2 hours and 5 minutes to battle past former World No. 3 Svitolina, completing the quarterfinal lineup at the year's fourth WTA 1000 event just after midnight on Tuesday morning.

Fast facts: Swiatek is still alive in her quest for a second Miami Open title -- she won this event in 2022 to complete the Sunshine Double (winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year). The only other women to complete the Sunshine Double are Stefanie Graf (twice), Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka.

Swiatek is indeed titleless so far in 2025 -- but despite that fact, she is still the tour leader in main-draw match-wins for the year. Her win over Svitolina was her 21st of the season, moving her ahead of Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka's 20 victories apiece.


Swiatek is also now 13-1 against Ukrainian players at Hologic WTA Tour events. Her only WTA Tour-level loss to a Ukrainian player was against Svitolina, in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Match moments: Swiatek was up a break on three separate occasions in the first set, but each of those times, Svitolina broke back in the very next game, and the pair naturally settled the opening frame in a tiebreak.

Svitolina battled back from 3-0 down in the breaker, but Swiatek used deep, heavy forehands on the humid night to keep herself from falling behind. Swiatek earned her first set point at 6-5 with a crosscourt backhand winner, and the Pole closed out the one-set lead with one last forehand winner after 62 grueling minutes.

In the second set, Swiatek had three break points to take a dominant 5-1 lead, but Svitolina swatted those away and was eventually able to pull back on serve at 4-3. However, Swiatek broke again in a challenging 5-3 game, and she powered her way to victory from there. Swiatek finished the match with 34 winners to Svitolina's 22.

Wild card awaits: Swiatek will now face an unexpected opponent in the quarterfinals: 19-year-old wild card Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.

Eala moved into the first Hologic WTA Tour quarterfinal of her career when her fourth-round opponent, No. 10 seed Paula Badosa, withdrew in advance of their match due to a lower back injury.

Even though she received a walkover today, World No. 140 Eala is not to be taken lightly. Eala had been 0-4 against Top 40 players coming into Miami, but had a breakthrough win over No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko in the second round and an even bigger win over No. 5 Madison Keys in the third round.

With those wins, Eala became the first Filipina woman in the Open Era to defeat Grand Slam singles champions at any WTA Tour event -- and now she will play another in five-time major champion Swiatek.

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Talk about a weird match for about 15 games neither player could hold serve on the far side of the court. Thus lot's of breaks of serve. 

The quality of the match wasn't bad (lot's of great lengthy rallies). It just had a weird vibe, which I'm going to chuck up to being a night match (the first for both players) and the incredibly humid conditions.

Iga had quite a few errors on her forehand tonight, but stayed calm and didn't get frustrated. Played a great tiebreak where she was the braver of the 2 on set point.

All in all this kind of match could be good for Iga might not be playing her best and handing out bagels and breadsticks ala Indian Wells but that could actually be a good thing. 

She's having to battle and think her way out of situations. That'll will certainly give you more confidence in the long run than just running away with a match with zero challenge. 

Felt like that was part of the problem in Indian Wells all was good when Iga was leading but as soon as things got tough she panicked and had no plan B. So I'm taking both of Iga's last matches as huge positive.

Next up is someone I haven't seen much of fairly new to the sport a student from Rafa's Academy could be interesting. Should Iga get through it'd be another challenging semi with either Pegula or Raducanu (who's playing at quite a high level for the first time in Miami).

But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now we enjoy another quarter final for Iga at WTA 1000 level. 

Well done, see you Wednesday Iga.

Jazda!

OptaAce Stats:

37 - Since the format’s introduction in 2009, Iga Swiatek (37, level with Petra Kvitova) now only trails Victoria Azarenka (41) for WTA-1000 match wins over former WTA-1000 champions. Eclipse.

78.7 - Since the format's introduction in 2009, Iga Swiatek (78.7%, 37-10) holds the best win rate of any player at WTA-1000 events against former WTA-1000 champions – minimum five matches. Benchmark.

Iga Swiatek through to the round of 16 in Miami faces Svitolina

No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek reached the last 16 of a WTA 1000 event for a record 25th consecutive time with a 7-6(2), 6-1 defeat of No. 27 seed Elise Mertens in the Miami Open third round.

The Pole has not lost before the last 16 at this level since Cincinnati 2021, where she lost her second-round opener (following a bye) to Ons Jabeur. The second-most consecutive last-16 appearances in WTA 1000 tournaments is 18, tallied by Maria Sharapova between Indian Wells 2011 and Rome 2013 inclusive.

As in her previous match against Caroline Garcia, Swiatek did not have a straightforward ride. From 5-2 up in the first set, she was pegged back to 5-5 by Mertens, who won her ninth career title in Singapore last month. However, Swiatek took control by dominating the ensuing tiebreak, then rolled through the second set.

Two days previously, Swiatek had attributed her minor struggles against Garcia to an energy dip. On Sunday, the issue was her serve. In the first set, the 2022 champion only won 43% of the points behind her second serve, which allowed Mertens to get on the front foot and deliver pinpoint down-the-line winners. In the second, Swiatek solved the problem by raising her first-serve percentage from 60% to 79%, missing only four of her first deliveries.


"In the first set, my serve wasn't working perfectly," Swiatek said in her on-court interview. "I'm glad I was patient enough to just work for it, and in the second set I felt much better."

Swiatek will bid to reach her second Miami quarterfinal against No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina, who came through 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 over No. 15 seed Karolina Muchova. The Ukrainian now owns a 3-0 record against Muchova, having also defeated her twice in 2019. Swiatek leads her-head-to-head against Svitolina 2-1, including their only previous hard-court meeting in the third round of Dubai last year.

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Iga Swiatek starts with a win in Miami

No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek defeated Caroline Garcia for the second time in as many tournaments to reach the Miami Open third round, advancing 6-2, 7-5 in 1 hour and 34 minutes.

Two weeks ago at the same stage of Indian Wells, Swiatek needed just 61 minutes to run away with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. This time round, Garcia put up slightly stiffer opposition -- Swiatek needed to overturn a 3-1 deficit and save one set point (serving down 5-4) in the second set. However, Swiatek delivered a clutch home stretch to reel off the last three games and improve to 6-1 overall against the Frenchwoman.

The Pole raced out of the blocks, winning the first 10 points before Garcia got on the board. But after breaking to go up 1-0 in the second set, she suddenly lost three straight games with a spate of unforced errors. Afterwards, Swiatek ascribed this to an energy dip.


"My energy level got down really fast," she said in her on-court interview. "So I tried to wake myself up, keep the intensity from the first set, follow through and go for it."

Other than that, 2022 Miami champion Swiatek had largely repeated the strategy that had been successful in Indian Wells, despite the slightly different conditions.

"The tactics was kind of the same, because our game styles are the same," she said. "But for sure the way you play changes a bit. Yeah, I mean, the ball bounces lower here, for sure, and the air also is not that dynamic. I feel like I have to be ready for a little bit faster game and be even lower on my legs.

"But that's going to be the case against every player, not only Caro. But I wouldn't say there was much difference. The only difference is I let her come back to the game in the second set a little bit."

The result made Swiatek the first player in the history of the WTA 1000 format (since 2009) to win 25 consecutive opening matches at this level, a streak that dates back to Cincinnati 2021, where she lost in the second round (after a first-round bye) to Ons Jabeur. In the Miami second round, she will next face No. 27 seed Elise Mertens, who delivered a succession of fine drop shots to defeat Peyton Stearns 6-4, 6-1.

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Iga Swiatek adresses Indian Wells controversy

 

 

Iga Swiatek Instagram

So there we have it, Iga in her own words. 

About issues she was partially forced to address due to judgements, opinions and theories on social media as well main stream media scrutiny (who in my opinion blew things out of proportion). 

Nonetheless it's good to see Iga defending herself. 

It's quite insightful, and a real reminder of just how much she has been through these past several months. 

I have always appreciated her candidness, being an introvert myself I know how hard it can be to share deeply personal things with friends much less with the whole world. 

It's interesting she brings up losing the world #1 ranking I've always had my suspicious about that meaning a whole lot to her than she often let on.

Which she pretty much confirmed when she got it back from Sabalenka at the end of 2023.  

Not having the chance to defend it at the end of 2024 due to circumstances beyond her control (with the doping ban) clearly hurt a lot. And understandably so. 

When you're a perfectionist like she is with her own high standards and expectations it can be even harder to  let go of things or get used to a new status quo.

It's really no wonder she's having a hard time mentally at the moment it is a lot deal with for any average person much less a global athlete. 

It's actually been a bit tough for me to watch her since the Aussie Open ended. Its been tough seeing her so negative and angry and upset with herself and the people around her. 

But it's in hard  times that you always need support the most, so as her fan I will continue to support her and believe in her in good times and bad

I just hope that fans and people around her give her the support and understanding she needs to work on things.

Iga Swiatek suffers back to back losses to Mirra Andreeva this time at Indian Wells

 A few observations about this match, it was actually really high quality and I was impressed with how well Iga served throughout. 

It's the kind of match I was hoping for in Dubai. 

That 3rd set was very winnable from Iga's perspective. It came down to couple of key points towards the end, the 30 all point with Mirra serving to make it 5/3 where Iga made some errors on the backhand and the 30-0  and 30 all point on Iga's serve where she had a chance to put pressure on Mirra by making her serve it out. 

In all those points Iga just lacked a little something, she described it as guts in her post match interview with the Polish media. 

Said that lately when she is in pressure situations and she tries to go for it it just hasn't worked out and it's something she needs to work on.

All credit to Mirra who was more solid when it counted, but this definitely feels like a lost opportunity. 

Iga was actually doing a better job all match dealing with the  windy conditions, so much so in fact that you could tell it was visibly frustrating her opponent had Iga managed  to hold her serve to make Mirra serve it out I really think she would have gotten back into the match.

The match did seem to unravel a bit early on in the 3rd where Iga got so upset she hit a ball high trying to make it go on to the stands where her team was sitting. 

Which I think occurred after a double fault, and it escalated into an argument with the umpire. 

It was quite uncharacteristic. 

There's a lot of discussion online regarding her relationship with her psychologist and whether Iga should keep her on (which is actually nothing new and happens every time she loses) so I never give it any weight. 

But there's no denying now that Iga is lacking problem solving skills under stress and instead gets quite frustrated and angry. 

Whereas before she was able to keep it all in check despite the occasional panic when things weren't going her way. 

Keeping a cool head under pressure is something you could always count on with Iga especially in the penultimate stages of a tournament 

Lately that ability is just not there, you could also make the argument (as many have) that she still hasn't quite come to grips after everything that happened with the doping ban. 

Some keep referring to her loss at the Olympics as the thing that really changed things on a subconscious level. 

Personally I think she's processed all that, and it's more about lack of confidence (guts as Iga mentioned)  when she gets to the final stages. 

Not winning a title since mid last year would shake anyone's confidence really. 

Iga has her own very high standards and right now the frustration of not meeting them is losing her matches. She just needs to keep working to get back on track.

I think for all of us Iga fans it's a bit hard to reconcile what we're seeing right now because we're so used to her winning all the time. 

At the moment it's her opponents who are improving and evolving and Iga just hasn't caught up.  

Given time I think she'll get there and whether that involves some more changes with her team or something else only Iga truly knows.

I'll only start to worry if we don't see any results on the clay till than I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Let's see how things go in Miami.

Keep your head up Iga, your tennis is still there you just need to trust it more.

Defending Champion Iga Swiatek back in the semis of Indian Wells

 

No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek is continuing to set records at the BNP Paribas Open. The defending champion returned to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3, defeat of No. 8 seed Zheng Qinwen, her 10th straight match-win here.

Swiatek becomes the first player in tournament history to reach the Indian Wells semifinals in four consecutive years, and the third player to win her first four quarterfinals here following Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova. The Polish star has lost just two main-draw matches at the tournament in her career -- to Jelena Ostapenko in the 2021 fourth round and to Elena Rybakina in the 2023 semifinals. (In 2019, Swiatek also lost in qualifying to Ysaline Bonaventure.)

On Thursday, Swiatek looked dominant despite swirling winds.

"I think every time is a bit different," Swiatek said when asked about the conditions. "If I'm gonna adjust well, then I'm gonna be able to use it to my advantage in terms of, I don't know, playing more spinny with the wind so it bounces even higher."

This year, Swiatek has conceded only 12 games on her way to the semifinals -- tied for the fewest by any player who has played at least four matches to reach this stage, alongside Lindsay Davenport (2004), Justine Henin (2006) and Jelena Jankovic (2008).

Swiatek improves to 7-1 overall against Zheng, avenging a heartbreaking loss in last year's Paris Olympic Games semifinals, their most recent meeting. She advances to her third semifinal of 2025, and will face No. 9 seed Mirra Andreeva as she bids to reach her first final since Roland Garros last June. Andreeva, 17, rolled to her 10th straight win after defeating Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-3 to make her second straight WTA 1000 semifinal.

Superior serving, clutch play key for Swiatek: Between the two players, Zheng is more renowned for her serve. The Chinese player slammed a tour-leading 445 aces in 2024 and won a remarkable 76% of her first-serve points last year. But in this match, it was Swiatek whose delivery proved a greater weapon. The 23-year-old won 74% of her first-serve points compared to Zheng's 53%.

Her superiority was underlined by her clutch performance on return. Swiatek converted all five of her break point opportunities on Zheng's serve, while saving three of the five against her. Zheng will also rue to separate service games, down 4-1 in the first set and in the opening game of the second, in which she was broken from 40-0 up.

Scenic route to closing sets: At the tail end of each set, Swiatek wobbled briefly while Zheng played her best tennis. Swiatek led 5-1 in both, but was broken to have her lead cut to 5-3. The gulf was too much to make up both times, but Zheng's grit made the final scoreline more respectable -- the six games she won were as many as Swiatek's previous three opponents combined.

On avenging her loss to Zheng at the Olympics: "Well, obviously [coach] Wim analyzed this match," Swiatek said. "And we kind of spoke about it a bit, but besides the fact that this was the only match that I lost against Qinwen and I wanted to learn from it, it didn't really cross my mind that much, because I knew that this is on hard court and I knew what I did wrong on the Olympics."

wtatennis.com

Sweet, sweet revenge. Slight wobble while serving it out but overall another superb performance from Iga in extremely blustery conditions.

Tomorrow another challenge awaits and another opportunity for revenge. Mirra Andreeva who served Iga her most recent defeat in Dubai just two weeks ago. 

I will say that in that match Iga capitulated by really letting her emotions overtake her and just completely lost the plot. I don't think that will be the case here.

Iga feels at home here, and I believe that even if it gets tough she will above all stay calm and find solutions, 

Jazda Iga, you can do this!. Trust your game and your serve and your superior athleticism. 

It's your time to finally get your first final of 2025. 

Defending Champion Iga Swiatek back in the quarters of Indian Wells

 

INDIAN WELLS -- Last week the two 2023 Roland Garros finalists were practicing on these bouncy desert courts. According to Iga Swiatek, she and Karolina Muchova played at a “pretty similar” level.

On Tuesday, however, it wasn’t even close. Swiatek produced a 6-1, 6-1victory over Muchova at the BNP Paribas Open. It was over in 57 minutes.

“Honestly, sometimes matches can be pretty weird,” Swiatek told reporters. “It’s enough for one player to not feel perfect and the other feel great. Then suddenly the difference is much bigger than it usually is.

“It’s tennis. Things like that can happen. For sure I used my opportunities and I used my chances. It’s not easy, but, well, I can imagine that it looks like it.”

It doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the net -- Swiatek just keeps on doing Iga things at Indian Wells. She raced into the quarterfinals, where she’ll face the winner of the later match between No. 8 Zheng Qinwen and No. 18 Marta Kostyuk on Thursday.

The World No. 2 dropped all of four games in previous wins over Caroline Garcia and Dayana Yastremska -- including two with a scoreline of 6-0. Through three matches, Swiatek has now won 36 of 42 games.

Swiatek, however, can step to the head of the class with a title Sunday. She won here in 2022 as well as a year ago -- and a third championship would be unprecedented. Her record at Indian Wells has swelled to 21-2 at Indian Wells, a .913 winning percentage second only to Martina Navratilova’s 100 % -- 10-0.

For the second straight match, Swiatek did not face a break point. Her serve, she said, has been a point of emphasis in recent months. But it’s her return game that has been truly flourishing. The goal for these elite players is to win half of their return games. For the record, Swiatek has won 16 of 21, better than 76 %.

“I feel for sure like I’m returning well and I’m trying to put pressure on my opponents,” she said. “But I wouldn’t say I change anything or something. I’m kind of going the same kind of process I always had.”

Swiatek is the first woman to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals for four consecutive years since Karolina Pliskova from 2016-19. She has now beaten Muchova in four straight matches, including the 2023 final at Roland Garros, and is 4-1 overall.

On a rainy, blustery day, the match was delayed nearly an hour. Typically, Swiatek has a firm risk-reward ratio in her mind, but toward the end she ramped it up.

“I knew this big cloud is coming, and probably if I’m not going to finish, then I’m going to wait a bit,” Swiatek said. “On last two games, it was a bit slippery already, but I really wanted to finish. So I kind of played more risky -- but the shots were still in.”

That’s the way it’s been going for Swiatek here, even the circus shots are falling.

wtatennis.com

On a miserably rainy and gloomy day in California Iga really took care of business. I can honestly say I did not expect the match to be this one sided. 

Half way through this match I was starting to wonder if whatever physical effects Muchova was feeling a few days prior in her match were partly to blame. She was just uncharacteristically bad.

Whatever the reason it still doesn't take away from a superb performance by Iga. Who just could do no wrong today. 

Another fantastically dominant display and score line. 

I'm sure not facing much opposition or pressure helped her to play even more relaxed and free, but nonetheless it was still quite impressive.

She seems to have found her groove at Indian Wells and feels quite comfortable in the Californian Desert.

Her next opponent could be Marta Kostyuk or Zheng Quinwen which would mean an opportunity to avenge a painful Olympics loss in Paris in the Summer of last year. 

As a fan I would love for Iga to be able to slay those demons here (even if it is on a hardcourt and not clay).

If she can play as focused, on point and relaxed on Thursday I could see her doing just that.

At the time I'm posting this Iga's opponents haven't even stepped on court yet due to the never ending rain (and I'm starting to think they may be moved to the next day).

Iga Swiatek wih another impressive win at Indian Wells

 

INDIAN WELLS -- The backhand was well wide, but clipped the tape -- radically changing direction -- and dropped in for an unlikely winner. Iga Swiatek, who had just won her seventh straight game of the match, raised her hand.

Sorry, not sorry.

Sunday was that kind of day for Dayana Yastremska at the BNP Paribas Open. Swiatek skated off with a 6-0, 6-2 third-round victory in 65 minutes.

Yastremska, a victim of her over-aggressive groundstrokes -- and Swiatek’s consistent composure -- finally got on the board 53 minutes into the match when Swiatek’s backhand return sailed long. That ended Swiatek’s 10-game win streak.

Showing some grit, Yastremska rallied to win two service games before Swiatek served it out. The World No. 2 did not face a break point.



The champion here in 2022 and 2024, Swiatek is going for her third title -- something no woman has ever achieved. She gets the winner of the later match between No. 15 seed Karolina Muchova and Katerina Siniakova on Tuesday.

It’s a dry heat

Two hours before her match with Dayana Yastremska, Swiatek was on court in Stadium 1, working with her team. Coach Wim Fissette, racquet in hand, stood about 20 feet away, watching Swiatek lash groundstrokes from the baseline. After about 10 minutes, Swiatek wiped her perspiring face with the top of her white t-shirt.

No sweat, right?

The World No. 2 loves these desert courts and their high bounces -- comparable, some players say, to clay. At 23, Swiatek is already a four-time champion on the red clay of Roland Garros. Watching her cavort at Indian Wells feels like seeing otters splashing joyfully in a babbling brook.

It’s all about the RPM here, not necessarily the MPH. It’s an exceedingly spin-friendly environment.

“For sure, I feel like it makes it more visible, the topspin that I play,” Swiatek told reporters. “But I still have to play it. My game fits the surface here, yeah. The surface helps, but it’s not the only thing. You still need to do the job.”

Statistical mayhem

Speaking of which … It’s difficult to overstate Swiatek’s dominance in what is certainly her “Tennis Paradise.”

The numbers are beginning to verge on astounding:Swiatek is 20-2 at Indian Wells, a .909 winning percentage that is second only to Martina Navratilova’s pristine 10-0.

Of those 20 victories, 17 have come in straight sets -- a testament to Swiatek’s dominance here.

Since the format was introduced in 2009, Swiatek (.817, 103-23) only trails Serena Williams (.841, 148-28) for winning percentage at WTA 1000 events.

Only Victoria Azarenka (33) has registered more sets with a 6-0 scoreline in WTA 1000 events than Swiatek’s 31 since the format was introduced in 2009.

What does it feel like to be in the midst of a 6-0 run?

“I know that I'm in a good place and I’m going the right way,” Swiatek said. “So I feel pretty pumped up. But on the other hand, calm, because I don’t feel that I’m threatened.

“I know how it feels like. I don’t know how it looks, because I’m not even watching usually these matches where I played perfectly, because there is not much to change or analyze.”

Cookin’ with Iga

Friday, after winning her first match over Caroline Garcia, Swiatek revealed that she’s reading a book about cooking and embarking on some culinary experiments at her rented house. On Sunday, she offered an update, holding up a photo of the baked oatmeal with apple on her phone.

“Which looks better on picture,” she said, “than it tastes. I just needed to add a lot of yogurt. I know my friends tell me that I did it wrong, that I should have blended the oats before but I didn’t. I don't know, I’ll have to try again probably.”

The pasta with tuna and lemon sauces sounded more successful.

“It was, at the end, pretty great,” Swiatek said. “It’s not on a level yet to be a hobby. I’m just trying things out because I have a good kitchen here. Usually I’m too lazy to do that or I don’t have time. It’s just because I’m a bit bored.”

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Karolina Muchova next for Iga, the first real test of the tournament I think. 

Muchova's level hasn't been as high as when they've previously faced one anther, but she'll still be able to give Iga a big challenge, one I'm confident Iga will be able to meet.

Should be a high quality match, really looking forward to it.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek rolls in Indian Wells Opener

 

Defending champion Iga Swiatek of Poland breezed into the third round of the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over France's Caroline Garcia on Friday.

In a second-round clash between players who have both been ranked inside the Top 4 of the PIF WTA Rankings, it was No. 2 seed Swiatek who comprehensively prevailed, extending her head-to-head lead over former World No. 4 Garcia to 5-1.


"I [was] solid no matter what the score is, and I don't take [the] next games for granted," Swiatek said afterwards. "If I'm leading even 4-0, I know that I should keep playing the same way and keep the same attitude to just win the match."

0: Swiatek has never lost her opening match at Indian Wells in her five main-draw appearances at the event. Following her first-round bye, Swiatek maintained that record by besting Garcia in 1 hour and 1 minute on Friday.

6-for-9: Swiatek's return game was staggering on Friday, as she converted six of her nine break points. Swiatek won 58 percent of points returning the Garcia first serve, and 75 percent of points when the Frenchwoman was forced to put the second serve into play.

7: Former World No. 1 Swiatek is now on a seven-match winning streak at the BNP Paribas Open. Her last loss in the desert was to eventual champion Elena Rybakina in the 2023 semifinals.

3: Aside from that loss to Rybakina, Swiatek has been flawless at Indian Wells dating back to 2022. She won this title in 2022 and 2024, and she is aiming to become the first woman to hoist the Indian Wells champion's trophy three times.

4: In 2022, Swiatek followed her Indian Wells title by winning the Miami Open, becoming only the fourth player to pull off the Sunshine Double in women's singles. The others are Stefanie Graf (1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Victoria Azarenka (2016).

37: By beating 71st-ranked Garcia, Swiatek has won her last 37 matches against players ranked outside the Top 50. Swiatek's last loss to a player ranked below No. 50 was to Elina Svitolina in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals -- former World No. 3 Svitolina was ranked No. 76 at the time, during her comeback from maternity leave.

1-1: Swiatek will take on Dayana Yastremska in the third round, after Yastremska beat No. 32 seed Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1 earlier on Friday. Yastremska beat Swiatek in their first meeting at Billie Jean King Cup in 2019, but Swiatek finally leveled their head-to-head at 1-1 last month, when she defeated Yastremska in Dubai.

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New outfit same old Iga :). Bit of rust here and there, but solid match overall.

Iga Swiatek suffers first defeat to younger opponent Andreeva in Dubai

Mirra Andreeva upset No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships quarterfinals, winning 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 36 minutes. The 17-year-old came from a break down in the second set to seal her fifth career Top 10 victory.


Andreeva, the No. 12 seed, is now the youngest player to record five Top 10 wins since Nicole Vaidisova defeated Elena Dementieva at the 2007 Australian Open. The result also marks her second win over a World No. 2, following her defeat of Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Roland Garros quarterfinals.


Andreeva advances to her second semifinal at WTA 1000 level or above following Roland Garros 2024, and fifth tour-level semifinal overall. She is the youngest player to reach the last four in Dubai since the tournament's inception in 2001. Andreeva will bid to reach her second WTA final (following her maiden title in Iasi last July) against No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina, who defeated wild card Sofia Kenin 6-2, 7-6(2). In their only previous meeting in the 2023 Beijing third round, Rybakina came from a set and 4-2 down to deny Andreeva 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The first eagerly-anticipated meeting between Swiatek and Andreeva was a three-set barnburner in last year's Cincinnati quarterfinals, which the five-time major champion edged 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. In the rematch, the youngster again took the first set -- but this time, she halted Swiatek's attempted resurgence in its tracks, reeling off the last five games in a row to avenge the Cincinnati loss. Andreeva is the first player under the age of 18 to defeat Swiatek at tour level.

"Last time we played was a close match and it was tough, it was intense," Andreeva said afterwards. "This time I just tried to tell myself to go for my shots, to be aggressive, to not hesitate. I think that helped me to win in a way."

Cool under pressure: Despite the scoreline, the match featured several high-intensity stretches in which momentum could have got away from Andreeva. Yet it was notable that each time, her concentration never wavered. Andreeva responded to every potential setback with a steely demeanor and cool-headed play.Swiatek came out of the blocks firing, and Andreeva's first service game was the first mini-barnburner of the match. It featured five clean backhand down the line winners between the pair, four of which came from Swiatek. There were four deuces, and Andreeva had to face down three break points. But it was the quality of her own backhand that saw her get over the line and on the board for 1-1.

Up 2-1 with the first break, Andreeva seemed to be coasting to a 3-1 lead courtesy of a pair of aces. But on game point, play was halted for several minutes due to a video review to establish whether she had touched the net chasing down a short return. She had, and a few points later faced a break-back point instead. But Andreeva faced this down as well, and held for 3-1 anyway with her third ace of the game.
Swiatek raised the pressure again at the start of the second set, hammering five clean return winners in Andreeva's first two service games of the set. She broke for 2-1, then saved two break-back points to extend her lead to 3-1. At this stage, the trajectory of the match was starting to look like a redux of their Cincinnati encounter. But Andreeva would not allow the repeat. Instead, she put together her cleanest, most dominant stretch of the match. Andreeva did not face game point as she reeled off the last five in a row, conceding only five points in this stretch (and just one on serve).

Afterwards, Andreeva said that she has been working with a psychologist on this.

"I have some new tips," she told press. "I have some new advices, in a way, how to work with my anger inside, what to do when I don't feel great, how to maintain my level when I feel great, how to keep being me.


"For example when it was 1-1, I was serving. When she broke me, she did three return winners. There was not much I could do about it. I just had to accept it. Been also working on acceptance when something doesn't go my way.

"I felt like it was out there on the court that I felt like still 1-3, but I feel strong. I feel like I'm still right there with her. Just thought that, OK, it's going to take some time but I'm going to go back and I'm going to try to come back and win the second set."

Aces, down-the-line winners key: Andreeva's backhand down the line is her signature shot, and was responsible for several of her best winners. But she also caught Swiatek off guard with her forehand down the line in several key moments, particularly after pulling the Pole forwards with short forehand slices: two such winners paved the way to a break for 2-1 in the first set, and another for 5-3 in the second. Andreeva also displayed a knack for upping the ante on return: she sealed the opening set with consecutive down-the-line return winners off each wing.

Andreeva's brilliant serving was also a crucial component of her win. She sent down 10 aces in total, including a nerveless pair as she served out the match. In total, she dropped just nine points behind her first serve. This is the third-highest number of aces Andreeva has served in a single tour-level match, following the 12 she fired against Swiatek at Cincinnati 2024 and the 11 she totalled against Katie Volynets in the first round of Doha last week.

Overall, Andreeva's ability to raise her level did not come at the expense of over-pressing -- in contrast to Swiatek. Andreeva tallied 18 winners but only 13 unforced errors, but Swiatek's 22 winners were outweighed by 33 unforced errors. Frequently, the former World No. 1's radar went awry in important moments: she was broken in the first set on a double fault, and twice in the second set on backhand mistakes. A final forehand wide sealed victory for Andreeva.

"I wasn't really sure where my ball is going to go," said Swiatek afterwards. "I wasn't as precise as I should be. Mirra is a good player. I already could see that before when we practiced and when we played in Cincinnati. It's not like I can win against her when I play worse."

Swiatek's dissatisfaction wasn't just with her loss to Andreeva, but her entire Middle East swing. Last week in Doha as three-time defending champion, she fell 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals to Jelena Ostapenko.

"For sure I'm not happy with the results," she said. "I feel like I under-performed. For sure I need to, like, talk with my team a bit and plan the next weeks a bit differently 'cause I haven't had much time to practice before these tournaments. I felt that my tennis was kind of... There were some things missing that should have been there. We'll talk about it."

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Not much to say about this one 

I think Iga does a pretty good job of explaining things herself in that last paragraph. 

Usually I like to watch the match myself to properly analyze it, but seeing as the match was on at 5am I woke up knowing the result and chose not to rewatch this time. 

Images on social media showed me just how upset and unhappy Iga looked. And I wasn't in the mood to see Iga this erratic and mad at herself. 

I'll wait for Indian Wells and Miami. 

Hopefully a bit of rest will allow Iga to have a bit of a regroup and reset, maybe a bit of training to work on some things. 

Some days are better than others on the carousel that is the tennis tour. Today was one of Iga's bad ones.

But we stay positive, as long as Iga is healthy she will get more chances and comeback stronger.

Iga Swiatek back into the quarters in Dubai

No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek survived a barrage of power hitting from Dayana Yastremska to advance to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships quarterfinals 7-5, 6-0 in 1 hour and 32 minutes.

Swiatek had lost her only previous meeting with Yastremska 7-6(2), 6-4 in 2019 Billie Jean King Cup action, and had suffered a heavy 6-3, 6-1 defeat in last week's Doha semifinals to Jelena Ostapenko. The Ukrainian, who has a similar all-out commitment to first-strike aggression as Ostapenko, did not hold back in the first set. Swiatek had to battle to close it out as Yastremska fought back from 5-3 down, saving the first two set points against her.

Five-time major champion Swiatek found herself in the rare position of being on the back foot in most of the rallies, mustering just two winners in the first set to Yastremska's 16. But unlike Ostapenko in Doha, Yastremska was unable to sustain her best hitting to gain any real momentum or take the lead at any point. Her cascade of unforced errors accounted for 47 of Swiatek's total of 67 points won.

"I knew I had many opportunities to break Dayana on her serve, so I just wanted to be consistent with my service games and I knew the chances are going to come," said Swiatek in her on-court interview. "We have many girls on tour right now who are heavy hitters and they risk it. If it's in, it's impossible to get it. If it's out, you grab these points and be grateful for them. It's not easy -- you have to have a lot of patience and acceptance."

Despite finding a series of thrilling winners to level at 5-5 in the opener, Yastremska's level dipped sharply after that. She won just one more point in the first set, losing it on a wild forehand miss, and then just eight points total in the second set. Swiatek was thus able to reel off the last eight straight games to set up a quarterfinal date with No. 12 seed Mirra Andreeva, who raced past Peyton Stearns 6-1, 6-1 in 1 hour and 13 minutes. The result put Andreeva into her fifth quarterfinal at WTA 1000 level or above.

Andreeva and Stearns were both playing their second match of Wednesday, after both won second-round matches postponed from Tuesday due to rain. Earlier, Andreeva held off former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-0, improving to 2-0 overall against the Czech, who required medical treatment on her wrist between sets.

Stearns notched a milestone win with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 upset of No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen, her first Top 10 victory at her 11th attempt. The American had lost a trio of three-set heartbreakers in Australia last month to Top 20 opponents -- 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-5 to Daria Kasatkina in Brisbane, 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5 to Paula Badosa in Adelaide and 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5 to Emma Navarro at the Australian Open. Her defeat of Zheng levels her three-set record in 2025 at three wins to three losses. Zheng is now on a three-match losing streak, having notched just one victory this year so far over Anca Todoni in the Australian Open first round.

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Iga Swiatek stays near perfect in opening round matches

Delayed over four hours before starting her Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships campaign, Iga Swiatek wasted no time once on court. The No. 2 seed swept past Victoria Azarenka 6-0, 6-2 in a battle of former finalists to reach the last 16.

A long rain delay had paused Jasmine Paolini's match ahead of Swiatek on Center Court at match point to the defending champion against Eva Lys. In her on-court interview, the Pole said that she had warmed up "four or five" times initially, before settling down with a book, a nap and some Lego -- the last of which was interrupted by her match call.

Swiatek, the Dubai runner-up to Barbora Krejcikova in 2023, had suffered a heavy 6-3, 6-1 loss to Jelena Ostapenko last week in the Doha semifinals. But she bounced back to her usual position of doling them out with an immaculate performance against Azarenka, the 2010 runner-up to Venus Williams, sealing victory in just 1 hour and 13 minutes.

31-9: Swiatek tallied 31 winners to just nine unforced errors in the match, with her forehand down the line particularly breathtaking in its power and accuracy. Her opening set was near-perfect. She committed only three unforced errors, only faced one break point, and did not allow Azarenka to reach game point on her own serve.

2: Swiatek was relentless in attacking the Azarenka second serve, winning 13 out of 15 points behind it.

17: In total, Swiatek put together a 17-game winning streak against Azarenka. She had won the last nine in a row of their last meeting, a 6-4, 6-0 win in the 2024 Doha quarterfinals, and won the first eight here. A rare Swiatek double fault ended the streak in the third game of the second set, after which a pumped-up Azarenka was able to get a foothold in more of the higher-intensity exchanges. But after Swiatek had fended off three break points to reach 5-2, the five-time major champion broke Azarenka for the sixth time to close the match out. She now owns a 4-1 record against Azarenka.

51: Swiatek has gone 51 consecutive tournaments without losing her opening match, starting at Adelaide 2022. This ties the longest such run this century -- Kim Clijsters did not lose her opening match between Montreal 2002 and Hasselt 2005 inclusive, before her streak was snapped by Mary Pierce at the 2005 WTA Finals Los Angeles. Swiatek's last opening loss came to Maria Sakkari at the 2021 WTA Finals Guadalajara. (Her last opening loss at a knockout tournament was to Ons Jabeur at Cincinnati 2021.)

5: The match marks just the fifth time that Azarenka has won two games or fewer in a completed tour-level match. The first two occasions were in 2007, when she was 17 years old -- 6-1, 6-1 losses to Romina Oprandi in the Amelia Island first round and to Karin Knapp at the same stage of Roland Garros. Azarenka also lost 6-0, 6-2 to Ashleigh Barty in the 2021 Cincinnati third round and to Emma Raducanu in the 2022 Cincinnati second round.

0-1: Swiatek's next opponent will be former Australian Open semifinalist Dayana Yastremska, who ended Anastasia Potapova's six-match winning streak 6-2, 6-3. Swiatek has a 0-1 record against the Ukrainian, who won their only previous encounter 7-6(2), 6-4 in 2019 Billie Jean King Cup group stage action.

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Iga Swiatek's extraordinary Doha streak ends in the semis

 Every player in the history of this sport has always had one opponent who was their kryptonite. When Federer first started out it was Nalbandian than Djokovic. 

For Maria Sharapova it was Serena Williams (who she never beat). 

And for Iga Swiatek that person is Jelena Ostapenko. 

To be fair all the players I mentioned actually met a lot more often whereas Iga and Penko meet once every couple of years hard to get a handle or come up with an effective strategy on a player like this when you don't play them much.

Still with a 5-0 H2H now, it's safe to say Ostapenko is definitely in Iga's head for the moment (doesn't mean it'll stay like this forever). 

It quite often depends on which Ostapenko shows up. The one who can barely get a ball in court and makes error after error, or the one who cannot miss. 

For the moment Iga keeps meeting the latter. 

Of course it figures Ostapenko would find her form when she falls on Iga's side of the draw. Something about Iga's game suits her, and for Iga it's the polar opposite. 

I'm willing to bet though even if Ostapenko wins this title tomorrow we'll probably not see her win much else for the rest of the year. 

She has always been hot and cold in this regard. 

When she's on she's on, but when she goes off you won't see her do anything of note on court for months. It's Ostapenko in a nutshell really. 

Of  course with this loss social media is starting to spout their usual nonsense, she's got a new coach but nothing has changed, she's afraid of change, her game has been stagnant since last year, blah, blah blah. 

So beyond tired of it.

When just a month ago they were all singing Iga's praises regarding her serve forehand and so on. 

So many continue to forget Iga is a human being not a robot, she's going to lose matches it's the nature of any sport. 

Honestly when Ostapenko plays like this there are very few people who can stop her. Ons Jabeur who's the queen of variety barely got a few games this week having just beaten her last week in Abu Dhabi.

It's impossible to win with someone who's just redlining, hitting one-two punches (with every ball going in) and basically ending the rally before it even starts. 

Ostapenko will always be an anomaly, so I'm honestly not reading much into it. She just loves ruining all the fun. 

We move on to Dubai (and pray Ostapenko is far away from Iga or gets knocked out early).

Keep your head up Iga, the year is still going great. 

Iga Swiatek makes it 15 straight wins in Doha

 

Three-time defending Qatar TotalEnergies Open champion Iga Swiatek returned to the semifinals with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Elena Rybakina in Thursday's quarterfinals -- her 15th straight win at the tournament overall.

In a rematch of last year's championship match, Swiatek came from 4-2 down in the second set, and saved two break points at 4-4, before eventually wrapping up a straight-sets victory in 1 hour and 36 minutes.

After beating Rybakina at last month's United Cup, Swiatek has now leveled her all-time head-to-head against the Kazakh to 4-4, and she continues on her quest to be just the second WTA player since 2000 to win four straight titles at a single event.

But Swiatek will need to get a first win in five tries against Jelena Ostapenko, the 2016 Doha finalist, for another spot in the final match. Ostapenko defeated Ons Jabeur in Thursday's third quarterfinal, 6-2, 6-2, to book her own spot in the semifinals.

How the match was won: After a 36-minute first set, where Swiatek won the first three games and never faced a break point, Rybakina converted on her second chance in the second set's opening game to set a new tone for the match.

What followed was an hour-long set in which Rybakina bent, but never broke -- at least at first. She saved two break points in her first service game to lead 2-0, and three more the next time she stepped to the line to extend her advantage to 3-1.

But handed a sixth break point in the set at 4-3, 15-40, it was Swiatek's turn to come up with clutch play. As Rybakina charged the net off of a well-timed backhand, Swiatek whipped a forehand past her for the break back.

In the deciding game, Swiatek hammered a cross-court backhand return winner off of a short second serve to deny Rybakina a tiebreak, and the contest ended two points later when the No. 5 seed served up just her second double fault in the match overall.

"I'm super happy, super proud of myself. Playing against Elena is never easy," Swiatek said afterwards. "At the beginning of the second set, she increased her level, so I needed to do that too to come back.

I'm really happy, especially in the last game, to break Elena, because with her serve, it's tough."

Stat of the day: The win is Swiatek's 100th at WTA 1000 level in 121 matches played -- making her the second-fastest to the milestone after Serena Williams, who played 115 WTA 1000 matches to do it.

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70 - Since the inception of the Tier format in 1990, Iga Swiatek (70.1%) is now one of only three players to hold a 70+% win rate vs WTA top 10 opponents, along with Steffi Graf (75%) and Serena Williams (70.9%). Company.

15 - Iga Swiatek has become the player with the longest winning streak at the Qatar Open since the tournament’s inception in 2001 (15 wins in a row). Home.

A near perfect 1st set and a come back from a break down in the 2nd against Rybakina a rival who frustrated Iga to no end in the past. 

Now she finally seems to have a handle on it. Shows excellent improvement and overall great mentality. Serve held up quite well today too.

Up next will be the bane in Iga's side (along with her fans) Jelena Ostapenko whom she hasn't played since U.S. Open 2023.

Doha is where Iga finally overcame the one sided H2H she used to have with Maria Sakkari (which she now leads). It's also where she got her first win over Rybakina. 

So if there was ever a place to finally break the Ostapenko curse of 0-4 it is here.

Jazda Iga go for it!. It's finally your time to show Penko exactly how for you've come.

Iga Swiatek keeps Doha four-peat hopes alive with gritty Noskova win

There may be no more intimidating sight in today’s tennis than Iga Swiatek on the other side of the net in Doha. But for more than two-and-a-half hours Wednesday, a fearless 20-year-old from the Czech Republic challenged the World No. 2 in every way possible.

In the end, Swiatek displayed those ethereal qualities that helped her capture five Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any currently active player under 40. Slowly, she reeled in No. 33 Linda Noskova and emerged with a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4 victory in the Round of 16 at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open.

This was Swiatek’s 14th consecutive match win in Doha and it keeps alive her chances to score a rare four-peat. She has won 15 of 16 matches in Doha (.930), history’s best mark.

On Thursday, Swiatek will meet No. 5 Elena Rybakina, a 7-6 (1), 6-2 winner over Rebecca Sramkova, in what promises to be a rousing quarterfinal match.

The other Top 4 seeds will be absent from the final four after a string of upsets Tuesday that saw No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 7 Zheng Qinwen and No. 9 Paula Badosa fall out of the draw. On Wednesday, No. 4 Jasmine Paolini was upset by Jelena Ostapenko.

Thus, Swiatek and Rybakina are the two highest-seeded players left. Rybakina leads the entertaining series 4-3. It will be a rematch of last year's Doha final, which Swiatek won 7-6(8), 6-2 to seal her three-peat.

Although Swiatek is a four-time Roland Garros champion, Rybakina won both of their matches on clay, two years ago in Rome and last year in Stuttgart. Swiatek holds a 3-2 lead on hard courts, including the only match this year -- a 7-6 (5), 6-4 barnburner less than six weeks ago at the United Cup in Sydney.

“Tough opponent as always,” Rybakina said of Swiatek. “Going to focus on myself, and try to stay aggressive on the court. It’s definitely the toughest opponent so far on this tournament, so hopefully I can do well.”

That Noskova gave Swiatek a real ride was no random accident. For it was Noskova who drummed Swiatek out of the Australian Open last year with a three-set third-round win. Swiatek, though, has now won four of their five matches.

At 17, Mirra Andreeva is the youngest member of the PIF WTA Ranking’s Top 100. And while there are five 20-year-olds right behind her -- including World No. 3 Coco Gauff -- Noskova is the youngest of the bunch.

The first-set tiebreak was surprisingly one-sided. An unreturned serve gave Noskova a 2-1 lead when Swiatek wavered uncharacteristically. After her second errant forehand, she screamed “Iga!” twice in visible frustration. A few more errors, a few more big serves and Noskova had won seven of the extra session’s eight points.

Swiatek -- who had been pressured from the baseline -- gradually gathered herself in the second set. After three consecutive breaks of serve, Swiatek held for a 5-3 lead and eventually served it out.

Coming out fast in the third, Swiatek broke Noskova in the opening game but Noskova broke back to level it at 2-all. Serving at 3-4, down love-30, Swiatek won six consecutive points and delivered the emphatic break of Noskova to take a non-negotiable 5-4 lead.

Noskova finished with 16 aces, nine of them coming in the first set. But Swiatek was better in the big moments, saving six of eight break points and breaking Noskova's potent serve four times.

Noskova actually won more points, 101-98.

Although Swiatek said last year’s victory over Rybakina in the final was difficult, she called this one against Noskova her toughest win ever in Doha.

“Yeah, I think so,” she told reporters. “I would say Linda played amazing, and for sure she didn’t make it easy for me.”

But Rybakina, Swiatek said, is always a tough out.


“She likes playing here, she’s been in a final here last year, and last year also was tough. So I’ll be ready for some intense rallies, and some low balls, and good serving.”


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Sometimes surviving tough test like this is all that matters and Iga give more than 100 percent today. 

More challenges ahead. But I think after today Iga is definitely ready to meet them. 

If you can survive an opponent who served 16 aces you're certainly well prepared for someone like Rybakina.

Jazda!.