Iga Swiatek rolls to third round in Indian Wells

 

[March 09, 2024]  Top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland cruised in her opening match at the BNP Paribas Open, routing the United States' Danielle Collins 6-3, 6-0 on Friday in second-round action at Indian Wells, Calif.

The tournament's top 32 players all received first-round byes.

Swiatek, the 2022 Indian Wells champion, had a huge advantage on first serves, putting 71 percent in play compared with Collins' 36 percent. Collins failed to take advantage of any of her four break points, and she saved only two of the six break points on her own serve.

Swiatek, 22, is trying to be mindful of her schedule in a year that features the Paris Olympics in addition to the four Grand Slam events.

"I feel like I can play a lot, and I can handle it," she said. "I don't want to miss any opportunities. I think if I'm going to get smarter, it's going to come with experience and I'll be able to make these kinds of decisions (about which events to play).

"But for now when we talked about it, we realized that I really like all these tournaments that are being held right now, especially on clay as well. I wouldn't feel comfortable missing any of these events."

In other Friday action, former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark advanced to the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time since 2020, beating No. 25 Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-6 (5), 6-3.

"Donna is a great competitor, great player. I thought we both played really well today. Just happy to be through this one," Wozniacki said. "I'm here because I love to be here. You know, I'm lucky enough that I have been given some wild cards so I'm able to play these big tournaments and compete against the best players in the world."

Katie Volynets, a 22-year-old Northern California native, pulled off a 6-4, 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, a three-time Grand Slam finalist.

Volynets, ranked 131st in the world, got a wild-card entry into the tournament.

"I'm definitely thrilled," Volynets said postmatch on court. "I'm so honored to play Ons. I've been watching her on TV for years, so it's just an honor to play here on this court and against such a wonderful player and with such amazing fans."

Germany's Angelique Kerber rallied past No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, and Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva ousted No. 15 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 7-5, 6-1.

Other second-round winners included No. 7 Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, No. 12 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, No. 13 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, No. 17 Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, No. 21 Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, No. 22 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, No. 26 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, No. 28 Anastasia Potapova of Russia, and No. 31 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.

In a late all-U.S. matchup, No. 18 Madison Keys survived a tough challenge from Hailey Baptiste, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4).

--Field Level Media

[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]
 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.