(Tennis news) Polish world number 1 Iga Swiatek ended Emma Raducanu’s run at the Indian Wells with a 6-3 6-1 victory to progress into the quarter-finals against unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea. Swiatek took a 3-2 lead after two tight service games and found a higher gear to break Raducanu in the next game before running away with the match. After wrapping up the first set, Raducanu sent a shot long from the baseline but Swiatek piled pressure on her opponent who began to commit unforced errors.
Swiatek is aiming to become only the second woman after Martina Navratilova in 1990-91 to defend her Indian Wells title and showed her intent after racing to a 5-1 lead, testing Raducanu to her limit. Raducanu had a fine run at Indian Wells, especially considering that it was her first appearance since losing in the second round of the Australian Open to Coco Gauff. Swiatek closed out the win when Raducanu struck the net on serve.
Speaking after the match, Raducanu said “I think overall I can say it was a positive week for me.The team, I think we had a run of three really good matches. It was a good experience today playing Iga on that court at night. I think the conditions are very slow and heavy and favoured her. But, yeah, it’s just good to see where I’m at.
“I think it’s been a good 10 days. I haven’t trained particularly much before the tournament, but I feel like I’ll probably take a day to recover tomorrow physically, because since the tournament started, I have done a little bit of something every day. So (I will) reset a bit mentally and physically tomorrow, and then take it from there.”
In other results, Coco Gauff defeated Swede Rebecca Peterson 6-3 1-6 6-4 after rallying from a break down in the final set. After taking the first set, Gauff began to struggle with his forehand in the second set and Peterson capitalised on the opportunity by taking shots closer to the net. In response, Gauff stepped up her defence and fended off three break points to make it 4-4 and broke Peterson for the fourth round to progress into the last eight.
Speaking after the match, Coco Gauff said “Today, it was just a mental thing, staying in the match. I wasn’t playing my best in some moments and wasn’t serving as well as I’d like to, but I think my mentality kept me in today.”
Also read: Cameron Norrie progresses into the quarter-finals with 6-2 6-4 win over Andrey Rublev
