Indian Wells (United States) (AFP) – Defending champion Iga Swiatek beat Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday, avenging her Olympics semi-final loss to the Paris Games gold medallist to reach the last four at Indian Wells. The world number two from Poland will get a chance to avenge another upset loss in a semi-final clash with Mirra Andreeva—the 17-year-old Russian who stunned her in the quarter-finals at Dubai last month on the way to becoming the youngest-ever WTA 1000 champion.
The top half of the draw will feature another semi-final grudge match as world number one Aryna Sabalenka takes on Australian Open champion Madison Keys—who denied Sabalenka’s bid for a third straight title in Melbourne. Swiatek delivered another dominant performance as she continued her bid to become the first woman to win three titles in the California desert. Swiatek, who won her first Indian Wells title in 2022, could also join Martina Navratilova as the only women to lift the trophy in back-to-back years.
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After dropping just two games in each of her first three matches, Swiatek was broken twice as she faced her toughest test so far, but secured the victory with a flourish as she broke Zheng at love in the final game after a brief shower paused play late in the second set. “It was a weird match with all the breaks and everything, but I wanted to be composed and really focused and I’m glad that I did that,” Swiatek said. Swiatek converted all five of her break chances—Zheng twice surrendering her serve in games she led 40-0.
Zheng did manage late breaks in each set, but neither those hiccups nor the brief shower that paused play in the second set proved much impediment to Swiatek. “At the end it got really windy, which made it super tricky,” Swiatek said. “When the conditions change during the match you need to adjust quickly and it’s not that easy. I’m happy that I was pushing until the end.” Swiatek admitted she was pleased to avenge her Olympic defeat—a heartbreaking loss on the Philippe Chatrier court where the Polish star has won four French Open titles. “It’s not nice to lose to anybody, so for sure you want to have a little, like revenge, but it’s nothing personal,” Swiatek said.
She can settle another score against Andreeva, who kept her bid for another prestigious title on track with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Ukrainian veteran Elina Svitolina. Andreeva belted 23 winners, breaking for a 6-5 lead on the way to taking the first set. After Svitolina rallied from a 1-3 deficit to level the second, Andreeva won the last three games. “I really like the way I play right now,” Andreeva said, but added that her recent win over Swiatek would mean nothing when they meet again on Friday. “(Friday) is going to be a new day, new match, new conditions, new country,” she said. “Everything is different.”
Top-seeded Sabalenka beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Keys, who eased past former world number four Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-1. As in her previous match, Sabalenka went down a quick break. But she won the next nine games to take a 6-2, 3-1 lead. Samsonova pulled back a break as she leveled the second set at 3-3, but Sabalenka strung together another three games for the victory, lunging for a backhand passing winner on her first match point.
“I’m really excited,” Sabalenka said, adding that the chance to face Keys again served as “motivation to get back that revenge.” “She played great there. I didn’t play my best and I’m really happy that tomorrow I will have opportunity to get this revenge back.” Keys, coming off a tough three-set win over Donna Vekic, fired 30 winners to put away Bencic in just 64 minutes. Keys is now riding a 16-match winning streak as she tries to become the first American woman to lift the title in the California desert since Serena Williams in 2001.
© 2024 AFP
