Iga Swiatek’s dominance at the WTA 1000 events this season continues unabated, as the No.3 seed from Poland defeated No.6 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday to win the 2022 BNP Paribas Open.
After winning her fifth Hologic WTA Tour singles title of her career, and her second consecutive title, Swiatek will rise to a new career-high position of World No.2 in Monday’s upcoming singles rankings.
Swiatek is the first Polish woman to claim the title at Indian Wells, surpassing the result by 2014 BNP Paribas Open runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska. Swiatek will also tie former World No.2 Radwanska as the highest-ranked Polish player in history.
Spotless Swiatek: With the win, Swiatek becomes the first woman to reach 20 match-wins this season. Swiatek’s victory also marks her career-best 11th straight match-win on the Hologic WTA Tour, with that streak coming at the first two WTA 1000 events of the season.
Swiatek claimed the title last month at the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha. By backing that crown up at her next event in Indian Wells, she improves to an undefeated 11-0 at WTA 1000-level so far this year.
With her 80-minute win over Sakkari, Swiatek continues to steamroll through championship matches. In her last five finals, all of which she won, Swiatek has dropped only a combined 16 games. Sunday's 6-4, 6-1 scoreline is exactly the same as it was in her 2020 Roland Garros final, where she won her first career title.
Swiatek had gone 0-3 in her first three meetings against Sakkari, all coming in 2021. But since then, the Pole has won their last two encounters, during her WTA 1000 title runs in Doha and Indian Wells this season.
Sakkari surging: Despite the loss, Sakkari can look back on this week with satisfaction, having reached the biggest final of her career with a maiden trip to a WTA 1000 final.
Sakkari will improve to a new career-high ranking on Monday as well, rising to World No.3. She will match current ATP pro Stefanos Tsitsipas’s career-high ranking of No.3, tying him for the highest-ranked Greek player in history, female or male.
Tale of the match: Returners had the advantage on a gusty day in Indian Wells, with six of the first seven games going against serve. However, Swiatek got a handle on returning the Sakkari second serve, where she won 14 of 16 points in that set. Swiatek used that to her advantage in the final game, breaking for the one-set lead.
Sakkari fended off two break points in the second game of the second set, and the Greek used sterling forehand returns in the following game to push Swiatek to three deuces. But Swiatek battled her way to a hold for 2-1, and from there, the Pole began to race through the rest of the match.
Combining outstanding deep groundstrokes with excellent defending, Swiatek survived the blustery conditions, winning the final five games of the match to take the champion’s trophy. Swiatek notched six service breaks on the day to triumph in the Top 10 showdown.
More to come....
Swiatek wins 11th straight match to claim Indian Wells title, rises to World No.2 - WTA Tennis
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