Iga Swiatek and Maria Sakkari once again made it to the Indian Wells Open final, so let's see how this might differ from the 2022 final.
It's been an utterly impressive week for Swiatek, who arrived in Indian Wells as the number-one player. She didn't start off well in Australia but avenged her loss to Linda Noskova by beating the Czech player in two sets in Indian Wells.
All in all, it was one of those typical weeks for Swiatek, who reminded all of us why she's the number one player. Wins like the 6-3, 6-0 one over Danielle Collins or the 6-4, 6-0 one over Noskova prove that.
She would add straight sets wins over Marta Kostyuk and Yulia Putintseva as well, with Caroline Wozniacki retiring in the second set of their matchup.
Nobody came close to beating her, but Maria Sakkari will try. Powered by the recent hiring of David Witt, Sakkari produced her best tennis in a very long time.
Even during her title run in Guadalajara last year, Sakkari didn't play this well. She scored wins over Diana Shnaider, Caroline Garcia, Diane Parry, Emma Navarro, and this final superb win over Coco Gauff.
Only one of those matches was in straight sets, which is important to highlight. As Spartan as her training regimen is, Sakkari will face a huge uphill battle in the final against a player who has recently given her a lot of trouble.
Head-to-head:
They have played a few times so far, and Swiatek has had the upper hand recently. Sakkari won their first two matches in 2021 and another one in 2022, but since then, it's been two in a row for Swiatek.
One of those was in Indian Wells (2022), and it was the final. It was an easy win for Swiatek, who also won comfortably the next two times they played.
Very few players do well against Swiatek, but Sakkari has proven that she can at least hang, so let's see if she can muster up some fight to produce a huge upset possibly.
| Iga Swiatek | Maria Sakkari | |
| 2 | H2H | 3 |
| 1 | Rank | 9 |
| 22 | Age | 28 |
| 19-2 | 2024 W/L | 10-4 |
| 300-68 | Career W/L | 453-292 |
Prediction:
I don't really see it because I think she'll feel the fatigue. This is the type of matchup where you need to be perfect to win it, and I think Sakkari will be a bit too slow in this one.
Prediction: Iga Swiatek to win in two sets.
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