IGA Swiatek, the world number one, beat Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0 to claim her second Indian Wells WTA title, two years following she beat Sakkari for her first.
A rematch of the 2022 championship final produced a nearly identical result, with Swiatek, a four-time Grand Slam champion, dominating the second set to claim her 19th career title and second in 2024.
Sakkari, ranked ninth in the world, fought tenaciously through the opening set, erasing a break and saving two break points in the final game before Swiatek delivered a dazzling forehand to win the first set following 44 minutes.
It took just 24 more minutes for the Polish star to finish the match. He broke Sakkari’s serve for 2-0 and cruised to the end.
Swiatek, who continued her strong comeback following crashing out in the third round of the Australian Open in January, said the 12 days in the California desert were not as easy as her score might suggest.
He lost only 21 games and did not drop a single set.
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“I’m really proud of myself,” he said.
“Even though this tournament looks like, the score, maybe I have everything under control, it wasn’t that easy from start to finish.
“So I’m happy I was able to improve during the tournament. I felt really good in the last two matches, a lot of confidence,” added Swiatek, who included a grudge match win over Linda Noskova – the Czech teenager who shocked her in the third round in Melbourne.
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Since that disappointment, Swiatek has come back strongly, winning the title in Doha and reaching the semifinals in Dubai.
On Sunday, she became the 10th woman to win the Indian Wells title twice, joining Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters as the only players to record two titles before turning 23.
“I just feel like I’ve done a really good job,” Swiatek said.
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“It wasn’t easy following Australia and I have worked hard to play well and overcome everything mentally.”
He started the match well once morest Sakkari, breaking serve to take a 3-0 lead.
Sakkari, who has two career titles including a 1000-level event in Guadalajara last September, broke Swiatek once more in the fifth game and equalized with a love hold for 4-4.
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But when it came to holding on in the set, she soon found herself trailing 0-40 and once Swiatek sealed the first set, she cruised to victory in the final eight games of the match.
“There’s no point in over-analysing, I don’t feel like I lost control or anything,” said Swiatek, who hit three unreturnable serves to take a 5-4 lead in the first set.
“I just knew what I wanted to improve and I did it.”
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Although she managed to make the first set competitive, Sakkari said playing evenly with Swiatek in the match was simply not enough.
“The match once morest Iga must be ultra-aggressive,” said Sakkari.
“You also have to take advantage of every opportunity,” he added.
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“When you play once morest Iga, (Aryna) Sabalenka, (Elena) Rybakina, all the players… you have regarding two, three opportunities in a match and you have to take advantage of them,” Sakkari said.
“If you don’t take advantage of it, then it’s ‘ciao-ciao’ as I say.
“Especially with (Swiatek). She was aggressive, but she was solid. Like from 3-0 to 3-3 to 4-4 she started making mistakes.
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“But then if you don’t use those small opportunities – like when it was 4-4, and I played a really bad backhand return game. I missed three backhand returns.
“That’s unacceptable with a player like him.”
Ultimately, Sakkari regretted her troubles in finishing her match once morest US Open champion Coco Gauff in a rain-interrupted semi-final.
He wasted three match points in the second set before winning in three sets and said the match had worn him out.
“Maybe things would have been different for me, like how I felt on the court, if my previous match hadn’t lasted that long,” he said. (AFP/Z-3)
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