There is something about playing at Indian Wells that brings out the best of Iga Swiatek, who has won 18 out of her last 19 matches played at the event.
The world No.2 cruised into the fourth round on Sunday with a clinical 6-2, 6-0, win over Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in just over an hour. Swiatek has dropped only four games in her first two matches in this year’s draw. In her clash against Yastremska, the Pole lost only four points behind her first serve and began the clash by winning 10 games in a row.
Swiatek has claimed the title at Indian Wells in two out of the past three years with her only defeat being in the 2023 semi-finals to Elena Rybakina. She is the 10th woman in history to have won Indian Wells twice but nobody has managed to achieve the hat-trick which is what Swiatek is aiming for this year.
“Honestly, well, I don’t know. for sure the surface helps, but it’s not the only thing. You still need to do the job,” Swiatek said of her success at the WTA 1000 event.
“I’ve always been pretty focused here and also accepting the mistakes that are gonna happen in this dry air, you know.
“I always had time before to do solid work. It wasn’t like I was rushed anywhere.”
Elaborating further, the 23-year-old says the two-week format also helps her work on her game whilst playing at the same time.
“Sometimes in these one-week tournaments, there is no time to practice, for example,” she said. “But here I always have that. I know I just feel comfortable and I found my rhythm also off the court to recover well. I guess it’s a mix of just being happy here and having a good life.”
This year’s tournament is taking place with a new surface provider after Laykold secured a new deal to take over from Plexipave, who was in charge of the courts at Indian Wells for more than two decades. Plexipave also has contracts with the US Open, Miami Open and others.
Despite the new change, Swiatek doesn’t see a massive difference in how the courts are playing.
“I feel like it’s fine. Still a slow, bouncy court. So it’s pretty much the same, but maybe it’s a bit different. It’s hard for me to say,” she said.
“I said from the beginning that we are coming back after a whole year playing on different surfaces anyway. So it’s hard to really compare the same way as I would after playing one week on one and the other one on the other surface.
“There is a little bit of a difference between the center court and the practice courts, but this is what we have at most of the tournaments.”
Swiatek will play Karolina Muchova in the fourth round on Tuesday.
