World No. 1 Iga Swiatek sweeps past Maria Sakkari for second Indian Wells Title
The rematch of the 2022 edition of Indian Wells sees the Polish star winning Indian Wells twice
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World No. 1 Iga Swiatek came up with a dominant display of tennis as she steamrolled past Greece's Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0 to win the BNP Paribas Open, commonly known as the Indian Wells title.
This is Swiatek’s second Indian Wells triumph and also her second title in the ongoing season. She also has eight career WTA 1000 titles to her name.
The final was a rematch of the 2022 final, and it was Swiatek who emerged victorious on both occasions.
The World No 1, also a four-time Grand Slam champion, was in red-hot form as she thwarted all attempts by Sakkari, who was seeded ninth in the tournament, by winning the final eight games of the match to assert supremacy in just over an hour.
Swiatek started on a positive note, winning 12 of the first 15 points, but allowed Sakkari to crawl back into the match. When the scores were level at 4-4 in the first set, it looked like the match would go down to the wire.
Swiatek soon upped the ante, and Sakkari was found wanting on many occasions. A forehand winner down the line sealed the deal for Swiatek in the first set.
The second set was a complete Swiatek show, as the Pole broke Sakkari five times. Swiatek also lost just five points in the second, as she dished out 15 winners and was unstoppable on the night.
A backhand winner drew her close to her second Indian Wells title, and Sakkari’s forehead went wide; it signalled Swiatek’s supremacy over her opponent. The World No 1 did not drop a single set during the course of the tournament and was only beaten in just 21 games.
Once the first set was won by Swiatek, there was no stopping her, as the second set remained a mere formality, with the Polish player stepping up on the gas as Sakkari succumbed to the pressure in the Californian desert.
Swiatek ‘proud of herself’ after the win
Speaking to WTA after her win, Iga Swiatek said while she was proud and happy for the win, she was elated for the fact to have improved during the course of the tournament and admitted that the win was a confidence booster.
“I'm really proud of myself. 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,” she told WTA after her win.
The World No. 1 added that she was stressed to face Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals and the win gave her a lot of motivation to play free for the rest of the tournament.
"I would say at the beginning of the tournament I felt like I didn't have much luck with the draw. 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, 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,” she concluded.
Incidentally, no other player has won the Indian Wells title thrice and the Polish player will have a shot at history in next year’s tournament. The focus now shifts to the Miami Open where Swiatek will be gunning for the title and making it a memorable ‘Sunshine Double’.
