In Short
- Iga Swiatek defeated Bianca Andreescu to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells
- Iga Swiatek will take on Emma Raducanu in the fourth round at Indian Wells
- Swiatek, top seed, has been in superb form on hardcourts since the Australian Open
New Delhi, March 14, 2023: Iga Swiatek defeated Bianca Andreescu 6-3, 7-6(1) to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells on Monday and set up a meeting with Emma Raducanu.
Swiatek, the top seed, has been in superb form on hardcourts since the Australian Open, winning in Doha and reaching the final in Dubai, and the Polish player looked set for another easy win after cruising through the first set. The reigning US Open champion was down 2-4 in the second set but battled back to win the match in a tiebreak.
“She (Andreescu) changed the rhythm pretty well and with this surface, it can get tough,” Swiatek said. “But I’m pretty happy I was solid most of the times, at least.
“And that I could be recomposed in the tiebreak because I really knew that I could get my focus up. I’m even glad that I got a chance to kind of play under pressure some more and see how I’m going to cope with it.”
Raducanu, who has been sidelined by injuries and illnesses since the Australian Open, defeated 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 earlier in the day.
The win was Briton’s best by ranking since her surprise Flushing Meadows title in 2021, and it was only the second time since that US Open run that she had three straight match wins.
Leylah Fernandez, who Raducanu defeated in the final two years ago, had a disappointing day, falling 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 to fifth seed Caroline Garcia according to the reports published in indiatoday.in.
Despite the fact that the match took three sets and nearly two and a half hours to complete, the fifth seeded Garcia was rarely put under pressure by her opponent, who only managed two points.
