Defending champion Iga Swiatek edged closer to an unprecedented third Indian Wells WTA title Sunday, overwhelming Dayana Yastremska 6-0, 6-2 to reach the fourth round.
Swiatek’s 65-minute victory set the tone on a day that saw Daniil Medvedev spend just 10 minutes on court before ailing opponent Alex Michelsen retired.
Swiatek, the world number two from Poland, was in full control against hard-hitting Ukrainian Yastremska, swinging freely as she won the first 10 games.
She converted six of her 11 break chances and didn’t face a break point herself. It was all but over by the time Yastremska got on the board by winning her last two service games.
“It’s always hard to finish a match like that,” Swiatek said. “But I’m happy that I got my intensity up the last game and closed it with confidence.”
Swiatek next faces Czech Karolina Muchova, who trailed 3-5 in the first set but won 10 of the next 11 games to beat compatriot Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 6-1.
Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and 2023 Indian Wells champion Elena Rybakina joined Swiatek in dishing out bagels as they lined up a fourth-round clash.
Andreeva, who triumphed in Dubai last month to become the youngest ever winner of a WTA 1000 event, needed 63 minutes to beat Denmark’s Clara Tauson 6-3, 6-0 in a rematch of the Dubai final.
Rybakina downed Britain’s Katie Boulter 6-0, 7-5.
Fourth seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, fresh off her first WTA title of the year in Austin, was another quick winner, putting away China’s Wang Xinyu 6-2, 6-1 in just 62 minutes.
Pegula next faces Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Danielle Collins.
“Food poisoning or something like this, these things happen,” said Medvedev, who was headed to the practice courts to tune up for a fourth-round clash with 10th-seeded American Tommy Paul.
Paul beat Britain’s 2021 Indian Wells winner Cameron Norrie, now ranked 77th in the world, 6-3, 7-5.
- Gladiator -
Eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, coming off his first title in almost a year in Dubai, beat Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-3 in a rematch of their Dubai quarter-final last week.
Tsitsipas dropped just eight points on his serve as he wrong-footed the Italian with a variety of athletic shots, breaking him three times on the way to victory in 68 minutes.
After months in the doldrums Tsitsipas said he was relishing a new mental approach to the game.
“I just feel like I want to get out there on the court and be a gladiator, and that’s how I approach every single match I get to play,” he said.
Griekspoor needed an hour and 16 minutes to secure the win, but in a season in which dropping the first set has become an alarming habit that was fast enough.
“It feels nice to win a match in under one and a half hour,” he said.
Griekspoor next faces Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki, who hit 47 winners in his 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) upset of 16th-seeded American Frances Tiafoe.
Ranked 349th in the world after missing more than six months last season with left knee tendinitis, Watanuki is the lowest-ranked player to reach the fourth round since 882nd-ranked Tommy Haas in 2004.
