Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates her win over Petra Martic of Croatia on Stadium One during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., on October 8, 2021. Swiatek won in two sets. Iga Swiatek Defeats Petra Martic Bnp Paribas Open 2035
Second-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland won 79.2 percent of her first-serve points on Friday while cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Croatia’s Petra Martic in second-round play at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Swiatek won nine of the first 10 games en route to the 71-minute victory.
“I just wanted to be aggressive from the beginning and not let her play her game,” Swiatek said. “In the second set, I lost focus for one game and she broke me pretty fast, so I knew I just had to keep going and not stop for a second time.”
Swiatek will next face 25th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova, who posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow Russian Liudmila Samsonova.
Fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine notched a 6-2, 7-5 victory over the Czech Republic’s Tereza Martincova. Ninth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 win over American Madison Keys, and No. 11 Simona Halep of Romania registered a 7-6 (2), 6-1 victory over Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
Lucky loser Jasmine Paolini of Italy scored an upset by dispatching 14th-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours, 49 minutes.
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, seeded 24th, rolled to an easy 6-3, 6-0 win over Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan, while No. 27 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus advanced when Magda Linette of Poland retired with a ankle injury while trailing 7-5, 3-0.
Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu topped No. 31 Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 7-5, 6-1, and No. 32 Sorana Cirstea of Romania recorded a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Japan’s Misaki Doi.
Also, unseeded American Shelby Rogers was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova.
–Field Level Media