CALIFORNIA — Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3 6-3 victory over the Chinese eighth seed to reach the semi-finals in the California desert.
Swiatek, who was one of the favourites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the Paris semifinals last year, converted all five of her break point chances during a 94-minute match that was interrupted multiple times to dry the court.
“At the end it got really windy which made it super tricky especially when the conditions change during the match you need to adjust quickly and it’s not that easy,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview.
“I am happy that I was pushing until the end. It was a weird match with all the breaks and everything but I wanted to be composed and really focused and I’m glad that I did that,” Swiatek added according to Reuters.
The Polish second seed came back from 0-40 down to break for a second time and a 5-1 lead in the first set but Zheng broke right back before Swiatek finally closed out the frame on her next service game.
In the second frame Swiatek again came back from 0-40 down to break for a 1-0 lead and didn’t drop a point over the next two games before building a commanding 4-0 lead and holding off a late-set resurgence by Zheng.
With the win, Swiatek improved her head-to-head record against Zheng to 7-1.
In other women’s quarter-finals, Belinda Bencic upset world No 3 Coco Gauff to line up a quarter-final clash with Australian Open champion Madison Keys at Indian Wells.
Switzerland’s Bencic triumphed 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach her first WTA 1000 quarter-final since becoming a mother last year.
Keys also had to rally, downing Croatia’s Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 to advance in her first tournament since she captured her maiden major in Melbourne.
Bencic dominated after dropping the first set to avenge a fourth-round loss to Gauff at the Australian Open this year.
The 28-year-old former world No 4 didn’t face a break point after the opening set and kept the pressure on Gauff, who struggled with her forehand after her aggressive start to the game.
It was a loose forehand return which handed Bencic the crucial second break point at 4-4 in the third set and she confidently served out to clinch victory.
Bencic, who gave birth to daughter Bella last April, was unranked when she returned to action in October. But she has gone from strength to strength, claiming her ninth career title in Abu Dhabi last month to rise to 58th in the world this week.
She said her improved fitness was a factor in her ability to best Gauff in three sets this time, when she couldn’t in Melbourne in January.
“What changed is that I just kept on working also on the physical side,” Bencic said.
“I felt like in the last matches in tournaments, I kind of was able to play back to back, some three-set matches, and am fresher every time.
“The body is holding up much better, almost like it was before.”
Keys unleashed a barrage of winners to vanquish Vekic, but after dropping the opening set and failing to convert a set point in the 10th game of the second the American had to gut out a tense second-set tiebreaker in which Vekic moved within two points of victory when she led 5-3.
Keys broke Vekic in the opening game of the third to give herself some breathing room and broke her again to lead 5-2.
Vekic managed to pull back one break but Keys gave herself double match point with a blistering backhand service return in the next game and sealed the victory on her second opportunity.
