Iga Swiatek is into yet another WTA 1000 quarterfinal after dominating against Yulia Putintseva at the Indian Wells Open.
The world No. 1 had been in great form already before this match. In fact, Swiatek made a statement with the two opponents that she defeated in the previous two rounds.
Swiatek easily swept aside Danielle Collins in her opening match. Collins came very close to beating the Pole at the 2024 Australian Open, but their Indian Wells clash was over far more quickly.
The four-time Grand Slam champion sent an even bigger message to the rest of the draw against Linda Noskova in the next round. She was defeated by the Czech at the Australian Open, but Swiatek won 10 games in a row to demolish Noskova.
That form meant this was always going to be a very difficult task for Putintseva. The Kazakhstani player did not lack effort, but she was simply outclassed by the world No. 1.
Putintseva got on the scoreboard in the second game of the match. Swiatek made a few unforced errors in that game, and the Kazakhstani will have hoped it was a sign that the Pole would have a bad night.
Unfortunately for her, the Swiatek domination then began. Putintseva is not a very powerful player, and her consistent brand of tennis was not causing the world No. 1 any problems at all.
Swiatek rattled off five games in a row after outstanding returning and hitting from the baseline to take the set 6-1, with a bagel in the second set looking very possible at that point.
It seemed even more likely after Swiatek won the first three games of the following set. To Putintseva's credit, she did not give up and tried everything to get back into the contest, including hitting an underarm serve.
Putintseva was rewarded for her determination by finally claiming her second game and the first on Swiatek's serve to make it 3-1. She was broken again in the next game, but some uncharacteristic errors from Swiatek in the next game gave Putintseva another break.
There were no more lapses from the world No. 1 after that. More excellent hitting through the slow Indian Wells conditions sealed a 6-1 6-2 victory. In this form, Swiatek will be very difficult to stop.
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