Iga Świątek advanced to the 1/8 finals of the WTA 1000 tournament on hard courts in Indian Wells. In the third round, the leader of the ranking of tennis players defeated – after a match lasting over two hours – Canadian Bianca Andreescu 6:3, 7:6 (7-1). Her next opponent will be British Emma Raducanu.
At the opening of Świątek, who will turn 22 in May, she had a bye, and in the second round she easily won 6-0, 6-1 against American Claire Liu.
In the third round, however, she had to work hard to beat the 32nd seed Andreescu.
The beginning of the duel showed that it would not be a walk for Świątek, who lost the inaugural game with her application. In the next, however, she made up for the loss, breaking her rival. Later, from 2:2, the leader of the WTA list won five games in a row and did not give up the initiative in this set.
In the next tennis player from Raszyn had much more problems. Although she took a 2-0 lead, but later lost as many as four games in a row.
In addition, the Canadian – with a 4-2 lead and her serve – jumped away in the next game at 40-15.
But at this point, there was another twist. The excellently fighting Świątek showed that it was no coincidence that she was leading the world list. She managed to break her rival – she won three games in a row and took the lead 5:4.
However, the Canadian was not about to give up. Soon after, it was 6-6, so the tie-break had to decide the result. In it, the Polish woman quickly scored four points, and won 7-1 overall.
Finished almost at At 4.30 am Polish time, the duel lasted two hours and seven minutes.
Both players served one ace each. The Polish woman did not make any double service errors, while the Canadian – two.
She met Andreescu Świątek for the second time in her career. Previously, she also won in straight sets – in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Rome in 2022.
A year older than the Polish Canadian, the Canadian won the US Open Grand Slam in 2019, and earlier in the same season she triumphed in Indian Wells. However, her sports development was significantly slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic and health problems, including in 2020, she did not appear on the court at all. It is currently ranked 36th in the world ranking.
In the round of 16, Świątek will face the British Emma Raducanu, who in the second round of this year’s event (prize pool of USD 8.8 million) eliminated Magda Linette, seeded 20th, in two sets.
In the third round, Raducan defeated Brazilian seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6:1, 2:6, 6:4.
With 20-year-old Raducan, a sensational US Open winner from 2021, but currently only 77th in the world ranking, Świątek competed once so far – last season. The Polish woman won then in the quarterfinals in Stuttgart 6:4, 6:4.
Magdalena Fręch also competed in the women’s tournament in Indian Wells. The 25-year-old Łódź player, ranked 106th in the world ranking, was eliminated in the second round after losing to the tournament “four” Ons Jabeur.
The well-known Tunisian, who returns to the courts after health problems, said goodbye to the event in the next round – she lost to the Czech Marketa Vondrousova 6:7 (5-7), 4:6.
Round of 16 Match Result (3rd Round):
Iga Świątek (Poland, 1) – Bianca Andreescu (Canada, 32) 6:3, 7:6 (7-1). (PAP)
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