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By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, October 8, 2021

 
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No. 2-seeded Iga Swiatek streaked through nine of the first 10 games dismissing Petra Martic 6-1, 6-3, at the BNP Paribas Open.

Photo credit: Getty

Dynamic debuts have helped drive Iga Swiatek to the Top 5.

A year after a then 54th-ranked Swiatek made an imposing introduction to Paris by sweeping Roland Garros without surrendering a set, she made a statement start in her Indian Wells main-draw debut.

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The second-seeded Swiatek streaked through nine of the first 10 games dismissing Petra Martic 6-1, 6-3, at the BNP Paribas Open.

The slow purple hard court in the desert, like the red clay of Roland Garros, provides the fourth-ranked Pole plenty of time to set up for her damaging forehand. Swiatek slammed that shot with precision—and showed the entire shot spectrum—breaking Martic in six of her eight service games today.

"I just feel it was a pretty solid match," Swiatek told the media in Indian Wells. "From the beginning I wanted to be offensive and not let her play her game, because I know she can play great topspin. And also she's using her kick serve, which is pretty tricky on this surface because the ball is jumping high.

"I'm pretty happy that I used the tactics that I had from the beginning and just, yeah, that I could play solid and be confident today."



About the only real mis-steps in Swiatek’s confident one hour, 11-minute triumph came when she donated serve at love in the fourth game of the second set and when she failed to serve out the match at 5-3.

Still, Swiatek moved fluidly, fired her forehand into all corners of the court and sometimes froze the Croatian with some timely drop shots.

Afterward, the only woman to reach at least the fourth round of all four Grand Slams in 2021 said total focus is key to her rise.

“It’s pretty hard to find the reason or solution in sport—I just know that I’ve been working pretty hard, I didn’t have any injuries this year which is also surprising to me,” Swiatek told Tennis Channel’s Steve Weissman afterward. “A shout-out to my fitness coach he’s a pretty good specialist.

“I also played as a Grand Slam champion which was pretty new for me. Always during the tournaments I could come back to the basics and just play without expectations, which was sometimes pretty exhausting because you have to stay pretty disciplined in your mind. To just focus on the game and not think about the rankings or race or whatever, but in the end I managed to do that which I think was the key.”

Since the start of the 2020 Roland Garros, Swiatek has posted a 41-12 record. Swiatek will celebrate the one-year anniversary of her French Open triumph by facing Veronika Kudermetova in round three.

In an all-Russian clash, the 25th-seeded Kudermetova cruised to 4-1 leads in both sets beating Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-3.




Swiatek gained a feel for the Indian Wells court conditions partnering Bethanie Mattek-Sands to a first-round doubles sweep on Court 9 yesterday. She showed her comfort level lashing a forehand down the line and sifting successive drop shots winners in the third game.

Martic erased a cluster of break points, including whipping a 113 mph ace to save the second. Swiatek swung her opponent wide with an angled forehand then slid a forehand winner down the line for a fourth break point. Swiatek slammed a backhand into the corner sealing her second straight break for a 4-0 lead after 16 minutes.

Tennis Express

Swiatek slashed a diagonal backhand behind Martic capping her second love game of the set for a 5-0 lead.

In the first-ever meeting between the pair, Martic tried to assert her game saving a three set points and earning a couple of game points. The 30-year-old Croatian held on an errant backhand to stop the shutout in the sixth game that spanned nearly nine minutes.

On her fifth set point, the second seed sealed a one-set lead after 35 minutes of play. Swiatek hit six more winners—10 to 4—than Martic in the opening set.

Commanding the center of the court, the 20-year-old Pole powered out to a 3-0 second-set lead before hitting a self-imposed speed bump. Swiatek played her sloppiest game of the match double-faulting away the break in the fourth game.

After dropping nine of the first 10 games, Martic was finding her form firing a forehand winner to hold for 2-3.

Exploiting the gritty hard-court with her heavy topspin, Swiatek hit a forehand to close and raise her 2021 record to 34-12.




Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina stopped Tereza Martincova 6-2, 7-5. No. 32-seeded Sorana Cirstea conquered Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-4. 

Olympic gold medal champion Belinda Bencic withdrew from the tournament as she continues recovery from the knee injury she suffered in Chicago last week.


 

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