INDIAN WELLS – Defending champion Iga Swiatek stormed into the Indian Wells quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Karolina Muchova, beating the rain that played havoc with many of the day’s matches.
The world No. 2 needed just 57 minutes to beat Muchova, who took her to three sets in the 2023 French Open final.
Swiatek, the 2022 and 2024 winner, did not face a break point as she continued her bid to become the first woman to win three titles in the California desert.
She said the showers that delayed her match by 55 minutes were an extra spur to finish it quickly, especially after the rain came again near the end of the contest.
“On the last two games, it was a bit slippery already, but I really wanted to finish,” the Polish star said. “So I kind of played more risky, but the shots were still in. I’m happy that I closed it, because I knew this big cloud is coming.”
And it did, as off-and-on showers caused multiple delays, the longest lasting more than three hours.
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, ranked 23rd, shrugged off the long wait at the start of the third set to upset world No. 4 Jessica Pegula 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
“Definitely was not easy with all the conditions and the rain, stop and start,” she said. “Warmed up maybe like 10 times today. But everyone is in the same conditions. You just have to adjust and go again.”
Svitolina booked a meeting with 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva, who beat former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-2.
Andreeva has now won two straight matches against world No. 7 Rybakina, including a semi-final triumph in Dubai in February where she went on to become the youngest-ever WTA 1000 champion.
In the men’s competition, a brief morning shower was barely a blip for Denmark’s Holger Rune in a 6-4, 6-4 victory over in-form Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas was coming off his first title in nearly a year in Dubai, but Rune, ranked 13th, snapped the world No. 9’s seven-match ATP win streak with an aggressive game that included 22 winners.
Up 4-3 in the second set, Rune saved a break point with a dazzling between-the-legs shot, racing back to the baseline after a Tsitsipas lob and batting the tweener that dropped perfectly to deny the Greek.
“Mentally, I was very, very good,” he said. “I think that’s what made the difference – how composed I was.”
Rune next faces 43rd-ranked Tallon Griekspoor, who upset top seed Alexander Zverev in the second round.
