By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, March 9, 2025
Iga Swiatek has dished out two bagels in four sets this week rolling into the Indian Wells fourth round.
Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open Facebook
Sometimes, tennis evolution happens right before our eyes.
The WTA Tour recently rebranded.
Iga Swiatek is revamping Indian Wells turning Tennis Paradise into Bagel Land.
Reigning champion Swiatek continued carbo loading the scoreboard dispensing Dayana Yastremska 6-0, 6-2 to charge into the Indian Wells fourth round.
Continuing her quest to make history as the first woman to win Indian Wells three times, Swiatek controlled the center of the court, drained errors from an erratic Yastremska and stormed through 10 straight games building a 6-0, 4-0 lead today.
"Well, for sure I'm happy with how it went," Swiatek told the media in Indian Wells. "I was pretty confident from the beginning. I just kept doing my thing, and I'm happy that I could close it in such a confident way."
It's the eighth straight Indian Wells win for Swiatek, who improved to 20-2 lifetime at the BNP Paribas Open.
Through two rounds, an oppressive Swiatek has surrendered just four games this week.
Consider, Swiatek capped her 6-2, 6-0 shredding of Caroline Garcia in her opener winning nine straight games then add the 10-game tear she started in today’s match and Swiatek torched through 19 consecutive games in one stretch.
The 28-minute bagel dished out today is her 45th shutout set since the start of 2023.
How strong has Swiatek been in Indian Wells?
The 23-year-old Pole has won six of her last 16 sets at the BNP Paribas Open at love.
Of course, the hard-hitting Yastremska was her own worst enemy scattering 22 unforced errors in the opening set—13 more than Swiatek. Though Swiatek served just 47 percent, she did not face a single break point today.
After the opening set shutout, Yastremska took an extended bathroom break. It’s a tactic more opponents may use if Swiatek continues this level of desert destruction. In retrospect, had Yastremska not taken the bathroom break the 66-minute match likely wouldn’t have lasted even an hour.
Matters went from bad to worse for the Ukrainian as a Swiatek backhand pass clipped the tape and dropped in giving her the break to start the second set.
Ripping heavy topspin forehands, Swiatek stretched her lead to 6-0, 4-0.
Fifty-three minutes into the match, Yastremska held to finally get on the board drawing a sympathetic cheer from fans.
In the end, Swiatek was too sharp. She's now dished out 31 bagel sets in WTA 1000 matches.
"I know that I'm in a good place and I'm going the right way," Swiatek said. So I feel pretty pumped up. But on the other hand, you know, calm, because I don't feel that I'm threatened. But I need to go and be aware in the second set that it can all change. Like, second set is a different story. You know, we start from zero kind of again, so the other player can also get their level up.
"So I always try to be aware of that and just be ready to compete."
The reigning Roland Garros champion Swiatek will face Karolina Muchova in a French Open final rematch for a quarterfinal spot. No. 15-seeded Muchova defeated Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 6-1.
The seventh-seeded Elena Rybakina posted a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Briton Katie Boulter. Rybakina will play either WTA ace leader Clara Tauson or Dubai champion and teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva next.