rewrite this title Swiatek still untested at Indian Wells; Pegula out

Two-time champion Iga Swiatek continued her march at Indian Wells with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Karolina Muchova on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals.

Swiatek, a former world No. 1, has dropped only six games since arriving to the California desert event and shoved aside Muchova with a near-flawless performance, with only four errors against a dozen winners while never facing a break point.

She is aiming to become the first woman to win the 1000-level tournament three times, after serving a one-month suspension late last year for a failed drug test.

After waiting through a rain delay, Swiatek took immediate hold of the momentum, sprinting through the first four games and not dropping a first-serve point in the opening set.

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Muchova, who enjoyed an inspired run to the US Open semifinals last year after recovering from wrist surgery, was unable to find her level in the second set as the mistakes piled up.

“Sometimes matches can be pretty weird,” Swiatek said. “It’s enough for one player to not feel perfect and the other to feel great. Then suddenly the difference is much bigger than it usually is.

“We practiced last week, and we had a pretty similar level. It’s tennis. Things like that can happen. But for sure I used my opportunities, and I used to my chances, and I was pretty focused and composed. It’s not easy, but I can imagine that it looks like it.”

Swiatek finished the match in 57 minutes with an unreturnable serve. She could face a more stern test when she meets Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng, who beat Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-2 to close out the night session on the main court.

Kostyuk’s compatriot, Elina Svitolina, had earlier stunned American fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in a match that was stalled for three hours by rain.

Svitolina, the No. 23 seed, will make her first quarterfinal appearance in six years when she takes on ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, who thumped 2023 champion Elena Rybakina 6-1, 6-2 in a little over an hour.

Andreeva, 17, is on track for back-to-back Masters trophies after her run to the Dubai title.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.