Iga Swiatek fires Indian Wells warning shot after emphatic start to title defence
Iga Swiatek has fired out a major warning to her Indian Wells rivals after an emphatic start to her title defence in the desert.
Reigning champion Swiatek eased through to round three on Friday, downing former world No 4 Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-0 to start her title defence in style.
The two-time Indian Wells champion has now won 17 of her last 18 matches at the tournament, with her only defeat since 2022 coming in the 2023 semi-finals to Elena Rybakina.
The world No 2 has also won 11.3% of her sets at WTA 1000 level 6-0, winning 30 from 266 in such fashion – the highest such rate since the format was revamped in 2009.
Swiatek’s penchant for ‘bakery product’ sets – 6-1 or 6-0 – is well-versed, and such wins have not been uncommon for the five-time Grand Slam champion.
However, Friday’s win over Garcia may be particularly significant for the 23-year-old, following a difficult start to the season which has seen her fail to win a title.
Following her victory, the Pole was asked about the difference between her emphatic wins and her often tighter losses.
In an intriguing answer, the Pole opened up about her mid-match mindset – and how she felt it was “harder” to win against her.
“Well, I mean, there are many reasons, I don’t know,” said Swiatek.
“It’s just, you know, that I’m solid no matter what the score is, and I don’t take [the] next games for granted. 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.
“But for sure, the matches that I lose are usually much tighter, which means that it’s harder to win against me, I guess.
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“But it doesn’t matter. I’m going to have matches that are huge battles and easy matches, but you can never expect and you can never just, I don’t know, try to predict. It doesn’t make sense.”
Swiatek will hope to bring momentum from her opener into her third round match against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, which is set to take place on Sunday.
World No 46 Yastremska is unseeded in Indian Wells but thrashed 32nd seed Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1 on Friday, following a straight-sets win over Yuan Yue in her opener.
Swiatek and Yastremska played last month at the Dubai Tennis Championships, with the Pole battling through a tough first set before prevailing 7-5, 6-0.
The world No 2 revealed that she would not try to “overthink” her mantle as a heavy favourite for the match.
She added: “Honestly, I feel like players playing against me, they can play amazing or they can play a bit worse.
“So you never know what you’re going to get from the other side. They can play kind of without expectations playing me – so I will try not to overthink that.
“My mentality and my mindset is always kind of the same before the match, and I’ll prepare tactically, for sure, and Wim [Fissette, her coach] will analyze her game here I guess, because that’s the most important thing, what happened recently, and that’s it.”
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