This is called stepping on the competition. In six matches played this week in the Californian desert, Iga Swiatek has not lost a set, nor seen an opponent score more than four games in a single set or push her until the hour and a half of play. Sunday, the Indian Wells final was no exception to the rule and the world No. 1 did not suffer much to get rid of Maria Sakkari, 9th WTA, in 1 hour 08 (6-4, 6-0) .
The score could even have been higher if Sakkari had not managed to disrupt the opposing machine a bit after the start of the match where it found itself in the blink of an eye at 0-3 and 0-30 on its commitment. With the slowness of the hard courts of Indian Wells, her vista, her speed of movement and her ability to put a lot of lift in each of her shots, Swiatek does not have too much to worry about in this stadium, where she has now won 16 of its last 17 matches.
Sakkari managed to come back to 3-3, held until 4-4, but not being left behind then became mission impossible. Without shining at every moment, Swiatek is just too sure of her doing in these conditions, also helped by a service that is difficult to counter which earns her “free” points. She played the last eight games of the match, losing a total of only… eight points!
His eighth WTA 1,000
Here is the Pole now on a series of ten victories in a row against members of the top 10, which gradually brings her closer to her record in this area, with fifteen consecutive victories against the elite in the middle of the 2022 season Here she is also, over her entire career, with a 72% success rate against this famous top 10 (36 victories-14 defeats). And with nineteen titles, including four Grand Slams and eight WTA 1000s, at not yet 23 years old.
If this success once again leaves Sakkari on the sidelines on a Sunday (the Greek has only won two of the finals she played on the main circuit), it also allows Swiatek to tie with her on the balance sheet. face-to-face (3-3). There are only two active players left to lead in their history with the Pole, since they have faced her several times: Elena Rybakina (3-2) and Elena Ostapenko (4-0). This title finally allows Swiatek to now have a 2,520 point lead in the world rankings over her runner-up Aryna Sabalenka. A gap worthy of his current domination: dizzying.
