Iga Swiatek rivalling Serena Williams and Steffi Graf records with her latest crushing win
Iga Swiatek is continuing to set remarkable records and her progression to the final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells has placed her alongside some of the sport’s all-time greats.
Swiatek has reached her second final in the Californian desert and she has done so with the loss of just 20 games, in what has been a dominant week for the world No 1.
She needed little more than an hour to see off the 31st seed Marta Kostuk without facing a break point, with her ability to crush opponents reminiscent of dominant champions of yesteryear.
Swiatek (89.5%) is now level with Steffi Graf for the highest win rate in the women’s singles at Indian Wells since the event’s inauguration in 1989.
In addition, she has now made the final in 37% of WTA-1000 main draws entered, surpassing Serena Williams (36.7%) for the highest rate since the format’s start in 2009.
Making her second final, Iga Swiatek (89.5%) is now level with Steffi Graf for the highest win rate in the women’s singles at Indian Wells, since the event’s inauguration in 1989.
“For sure I’m happy with the performance. I think it was the cleanest match I played here. It’s already a great tournament,” said Swiatek.
Maria Sakkari fought off a Coco Gauff fightback to book a place in the final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
She will face top seed Iga Swiatek after beating the American third seed 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-2 in a lengthy, rain-interrupted battle which finished after 1am.
Gauff broke the Greek ninth seed early, but Sakkari fought back to take a first set interrupted by a short rain delay 6-4.
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A lengthy break for the weather delayed the start of the second set, Sakkari settling quickest on the resumption and breaking the American twice to lead 5-2.
But she could not serve out the match, despite having a match point, as Gauff broke back and took the set on the tie break.
Gauff broke again at the start of the third set, but Sakkari dug in and rattled off four games in a row to take control again.
And this time she was able to complete the job, breaking Gauff again to complete the win after two hours, 41 minutes on court.
“I don’t want to disrespect Coco, but it would have been amazing if this match was over an hour ago,” Sakkari said after the titanic contest.
“I’m going to take this win even though it was in three sets. I was thinking of the finish line in the second set and then things got tricky. But that was an amazing win.
“Coco is such an amazing opponent. She’s incredible. She fights for every point. I’m just so happy I’m in the final once again here.”
Sakkari also revealed how she reset her mind to focus on the third set after failing to take advantage of match points in set two and allowing Gauff to come back into the match.
“I just told myself that the easy way out was just to give up in that third set, and I just wanted to challenge myself one more time and see what I can do after losing that second set,” she added.
“I also kept telling myself that you’re not the first or the last person that loses a set or a match — well, a set from being match points down, and, you know, that gave me strength.
I just bought into the game style where I had to be more aggressive and mix it up a little bit. I think that I was too predictable at the end of that second set.
I’m just happy that I was able to close that out.”
Sakkari holds a 3-2 winning record against Swiatek, but the Greek star has lost her last two matches against the Pole in straight sets.
