INDIAN WELLS: World number one Iga Swiatek was off to a flying start when she found herself in the semi-finals of Indian Wells on Thursday when Caroline Wozniacki pulled out of the quarter-finals with a leg injury. In an interesting match between the current and former number one, the 33-year-old Wozniacki raced to a 4:1 lead.
But the 22-year-old Swiatek found her range and reeled off six straight games, sinking the first set 6-4 and taking a 1-0 lead in the second before Wozniacki responded as he received treatment for an apparent blister on her right side. leg at the end of the first set. Swiatek, the 2022 Indian Wells champion, booked a semi-final meeting with Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, who defeated Russia’s Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 7-5.
“A lot of respect to her and I’m sad we had to end like this,” Swiatek said of the sudden end to the clash with Wozniacki. It was the second time they had met, the first in 2019 – seven months after Swiatek made her WTA main draw debut and five months before Wozniacki retired. Wozniacki, now a mother of two who returned to the circuit last season, has started strongly in her quest for a first win over the reigning No.1 since beating Simona Halep to win the 2018 Australian Open.
But Swiatek, who won the title in Doha last month before a semi-final outing in Dubai, gradually came into her own – closing the opening set with an ace. “I just wanted to hit the ball cleaner, honestly, because it wasn’t easy,” Swiatek said of her early struggles. “I had a lot of chances, but she puts pressure on the opponents with her defense.
You play forehand, backhand, and everywhere. “He runs a lot and returns everything. So sometimes I made mistakes, you know, I couldn’t finish the rally. “I really wanted to stay patient and calm and try to be more solid. In the second set, I felt I could go for it – I wanted to influence some things in the second set as well, but I didn’t get the chance.”
In contrast, Kostyuk started hot and then canceled out Potapova’s comeback bid to reach her first 1000-level semi-final. Kostyuk dealt with blustery conditions to roar the opening set in just 22 minutes. The second set looked set to follow the same pattern as Kostyuk raced to a 3-0 lead before Potapova managed to win the game. She then broke Kostyuk to return him to submission and suddenly Kostyuk found herself in a battle.
“I mean, 6-0, 3-0 is probably the worst score in the world, honestly,” said Kostyuk, who served for the match at 5-3 in the second and was broken. “I played against the wind today, so it was very difficult and Anastasia is a very difficult opponent,” added Kostyuk, who reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time this year at the Australian Open.
“He always fights, so I tried to stay there until the end. She finally polished it off with a final break of serve and advanced when Potapova put a forehand into the net on her opponent’s second match point. In the other women’s quarter-finals, US Open winner Coco Gauff, seeded third, takes on China’s Yuan Yue, while ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece faces American Emma Navarro. Both Gauff and Sakkari could be tested. The attacking Yuan won her first title in Austin two weeks ago, while Navarro defeated Australian Open champion Arya Sabalenko in the fourth round.
