With an 8.8 million dollar prize pool, the top-ranked women’s tennis player in the world, Iga Swiatek from Poland, is continuing her title defence at the hard-court competitive event of the UTA 1000 series in USA’s Indian Wells.
Emma Radukanu of Great Britain was defeated by Schwiontek 6:3, 6:1 in 85 minutes to move to the quarterfinals during the 2021 US Open champion. Four of Swiatek’s ten break points, including three in the second set, were successful. The three-time Grand Slam champion defeated Radukanu 22-14, winning 88% of her first serve points while generating 22 break points and 9 unforced mistakes.
Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion from Kazakhstan, advances after defeating Russian qualifier Varvara Gracheva 6:3 and 6:0 in 81 minutes. Rybakina will face Czech Karolina Muhova in the quarterfinals after Muhova defeated Rybakina’s fellow countrywoman Marketa Vondroushova 6:4, 6:7(2), 6:4 in 2:37 hours.
USA contender Jessica Pegula was eliminated from the competition after falling to Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic, 1-6, 6-3, 6-7(11) in a match that lasted 2 hours.
In the third set, Pegula was up 5-3 and blew a match point on a dream serve before Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, tied the match at 5-5. Pegula had another opportunity to serve for the match in the 11th game when Kvitova lost her serve, but she squandered it.
Only the third set, which lasted 72 minutes, was played through when the American lost three more match opportunities in the tiebreak. The Czech then closed the match with her fourth attempt. In the quarterfinals, Kvitova will play Maria Sakari from Greece, who defeated Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in 2:43 hours.
Another Czech contender Barbora Krejcikova was defeated by Australian Open winner Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus by 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted 2 hours and 4 minutes. Sabalenka’s setback this year came at the hands of Krejcikova, who has won 15 of her last 16 games overall since the start of 2023
In the following round, Sabalenka will compete against sixth-seeded Coco Goff, who defeated Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson by results of 6:3, 1:6, 6:4. The American, who trailed 2:4 in the crucial third set, won the remaining four games to advance to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time.
