The win meant that Swiatek had won 11 consecutive matches and climbed up the ladder to second place in the world rankings.
Follow Us
Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek had a rather comfortable time in the final of the 2022 Indian Wells as she beat Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1. The third seed never really looked in any trouble and there was no stopping her, especially during her dominant second set performance. Swiatek’s win is not something that will come as a shock but few expected her to win as comfortably as she did. Sakkari seemed out of her game throughout the match as she never really troubled the Pole. Swiatek was, however, the favorite to win the title and she delivered handsomely on the expectations fans had put on her, proving yet again that she is one of the best in the sport at the moment. The win meant that Swiatek had won 11 consecutive matches and climbed up the ladder to second place in the world rankings.
Swiatek had the upper hand in every single aspect of the match. The Pole scored a couple of aces whereas Sakkari could not convert a single one. Both players committed seven double faults. When it comes to the win percentage on first and second serves, Swiatek was far ahead of her opponent. The third seed had a 65% win percentage on the first serve while Sakkari managed 60%. On the second serve, Swiatek had a whopping 70% whereas the ninth seed could only manage 28%.
Read More – Fabio Fognini vs Rafael Nadal vs David Ferrer – Epic Tennis Rivalries
The Greek fell behind by quite a distance in break points as well, understandably. Swiatek had 11 break points, six of which she converted. Sakkari could only get four break points but to her credit, she converted three of them. The third seed won six service games, four more than her opponent on the day.
“At the beginning of the tournament, I wouldn’t even think about winning, honestly,” Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. “Winning after playing so well in Doha is giving me a lot of confidence and kind of belief that I can do it…I wouldn’t think of myself as someone who’s ready to play two tournaments in a row and win it. For sure hard work is paying off.”
“[Sakkari and I are] stepping a similar path, looking at rankings and looking at what we’ve been playing for the last couple of years. Paula Badosa, Anett [Kontaveit] and Ons Jabeur, I don’t want to forget anybody, but I think we kind of started playing Top 10 tennis at the same time.”
“[The World No.2 ranking is] pretty surreal for now. I have to look at it and I have to check the rankings by myself and just see it. Right now it’s too surreal to describe it, honestly….But for sure I want to go higher because I feel like getting No. 1 is closer and closer,” she added.
