Swiatek beats Sakkaris for second Indian Wells title

INDIAN WELLS:

World number one Iga Swiatek cruised past Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0 on Sunday to claim her second Indian Wells WTA title two years after beating Sakkari for her first.

The rematch of the 2022 championship clash had much the same result as four-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek dominated the second set to claim her 19th career title and her second in 2024.

Sakkari, ranked ninth in the world, battled gamely through the opening set, erasing a break and saving two break points in the final game, before Suiatek hit a stunning forehand winner to win the set after 44 minutes.

It would take just 24 more minutes for the Polish star to wrap things up. He broke Sakkari at love for a 2-0 lead and headed home.

Swiatek, who continued her strong comeback from a third-round exit at the Australian Open in January, said her 12 days in the California desert had not been as easy as her scores might suggest.

He lost just 21 games and never lost a set.

“I’m really proud of myself,” she said. “Even though this tournament looked like the scores, maybe I had it all under control, it wasn’t that easy from start to finish.

“So I’m happy that I was able to improve during the tournament. I felt really good in the last two matches, a lot of confidence,” added Swiatek, whose streak included a grudge match win over Linda Noskova — the Czech teenager who surprised her. in the third round in Melbourne.

Since that disappointment, Swiatek has bounced back, winning a title in Doha and reaching the semifinals in Dubai.

On Sunday, she became the 10th woman to win the Indian Wells title twice, joining Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters as the only players to score two titles before turning 23.

“I just feel like I’ve done a really good job,” Swiatek said. “It wasn’t easy after Australia and I’ve been working hard to play well and handle everything well mentally.”

He started hot against Sakkari, blowing a 3-0 lead.

Sakkari, whose two career titles include the 1000-level event last September in Guadalajara, broke in the fifth game to level the set at love at 4-4.

But to stay in the set, he quickly found himself 0-40 down and once Swiatek had the set in hand, he was out, winning the last eight games of the match.

“There’s no need to overanalyze it, I didn’t feel like I lost control or anything like that,” said Swiatek, who broke three serves to take a 5-4 lead in the first. “I just knew what I wanted to improve and I did it.”

Although she had managed to make the first set competitive, Sakkari said that rallying with Swiatek wasn’t enough.

“You have to be extremely aggressive playing her,” he said.

“You also have to take advantage of every opportunity,” he added. “When you play Iga, (Aryna) Sabalenka, (Elena) Rybakina, all the players … you have about two, three chances in the match and you have to take them,” he said.

“If you don’t get them, then it’s ‘ciao-ciao’ as I say.

“Especially with (Swiatek). She’s aggressive, but she’s consistent. Like from 3-0 to 3-3 to 4-4 she started missing.

“But if you don’t take that little chance — like it was 4-all, and I played a very loose return game. I missed three backhand returns.

“That’s not acceptable with players like her.”

In the end, Sakkari regretted her troubles to see off US Open champion Coco Gauff in a rain-interrupted semi-final.

She dropped three match points in the second set before winning it in three and said the match had taken it out of her.

“Maybe things would have been different for me, like the way I felt on the court, if my last match hadn’t gone the way it did,” he said.