It set up as an intriguing round of 16 matchup at the BNP Paribas Open, the No. 2 seed against the winner of the most recent WTA 1000 tournament. What it turned into was another dominant performance by Iga Swiatek.
Swiatek backs up her No. 2 seed by racing away from Karolina Muchova on Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. After a pedestrian opening, Swiatek won the last nine games of the match for an impressive if perhaps surprising 6-2, 6-0 win over Muchova, the No. 13 player in the WTA rankings and the winner of the Doha event in February.
“I think it was a great match,” Swiatek said. “I felt rally solid and like I could really, from the beginning till the end, play my kind of game and just play how I wanted to.”
About the only threat to Swiatek’s dominance in the match came in the final game, when Swiatek slipped along the baseline running for a shot and appeared to tweak her right ankle. Swiatek gave a thumbs up to the chair umpire and then closed out the match. Swiatek said the ankle is fine and she merely hit herself with her racquet.
The win advances Swiatek to the quarterfinals in Indian Wells, the third time this year she has reached the quarterfinals in her three tournaments. But she surprisingly did not reach the semifinals in either the Australian Open or the Doha event. Swiatek has won all six of her sets at Indian Wells this year, two at 6-0.
The event started decently for Muchova, with the players holding serve for a 3-2 Swiatek lead. Muchova had a 40-15 lead to reach 3-3, but the Czech star instead lost a game that saw both players hold game points, with Swiatek taking a 4-2 lead. After that, Muchova was never really in the match, a combination of Swiatek’s error-free and consistent play and Muchova struggling with her serve and her groundstrokes. Swiatek won 79 percent of her first serves in the two sets compared to just 53 percent for Muchova.
Starting with the final points of a game to take a 5-2 lead, Swiatek went on a run of winning 16 of 18 points, finishing the first set with a break of serve at love and then opening the second set by holding serve at love. While Swiatek never faced a break point in the match, Muchova was only able to save two of the seven break points she faced.
Swiatek said she took control of the match with her forehand, controling the center of the court.
“I always want to be proactive with my forehand, because this is what gives me points,” she said. “I think I just, you know, chose the right balls to go forward or to stay back and grind a bit more and play with more shape. I think just the decision-making was good today, so I didn’t rush, and I had just comfortable situations to do what I wanted to.”
Swiatek knows the rest of week two at the BNP Paribas Open will be difficult, especially with higher temperatues expected during the days.
“I haven’t played here in 35 degrees, I mean Celsius, so for sure it’s going to be a different experience, I think,” the Polish star said. “But I’m not going to change much in terms of the game. I’m only going to adjust the strings. So, yeah, I’ll see tomorrow honestly because it’s hard to judge from now.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Swiatek rolls past Muchova to reach quarterfinals of BNP Paribas Open
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