Swiatek and Rybakina move up, Medvedev sprints into fourth round

Defending champion Iga Swiatek edged closer to an unprecedented third Indian Wells WTA title on Sunday, overwhelming Dayana Yastremska 6-0, 6-2 to reach the fourth round.

Swiatek’s 65-minute victory set the tone on a day that saw Daniil Medvedev spend just 10 minutes on court before ailing opponent Alex Michelsen retired.

Swiatek, the world number two from Poland, was in full control against hard-hitting Ukrainian Yastremska, swinging freely as she won the first 10 games.

She converted six of her 11 break chances and didn’t face a break point herself. It was all but over by the time Yastremska got on the board by winning her last two service games.

“It’s always hard to finish a match like that,” Swiatek said. “But I’m happy that I got my intensity up the last game and closed it with confidence.”

Swiatek next faces Czech Karolina Muchova, who trailed 3-5 in the first set but won 10 of the next 11 games to beat compatriot Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 6-1.

Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and 2023 Indian Wells champion Elena Rybakina joined Swiatek in dishing out bagels as they lined up a fourth-round clash.

Andreeva, who triumphed in Dubai last month to become the youngest ever winner of a WTA 1000 event, needed 63 minutes to beat Denmark’s Clara Tauson 6-3, 6-0 in a rematch of the Dubai final.

Rybakina downed Britain’s Katie Boulter 6-0, 7-5.

Fourth seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, fresh off her first WTA title of the year in Austin, was another quick winner, putting away China’s Wang Xinyu 6-2, 6-1 in just 62 minutes.

Pegula next faces Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Danielle Collins.

Medvedev headlined the men’s lineup in the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event, but he was barely under way when 20-year-old Michelsen retired because of illness after dropping the first two games.

“Food poisoning or something like this, these things happen,” said Medvedev, who was headed to the practice courts to tune up for a fourth-round clash with 10th-seeded American Tommy Paul.

Paul beat Britain’s 2021 Indian Wells winner Cameron Norrie, now ranked 77th in the world, 6-3, 7-5.

Eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, coming off his first title in almost a year in Dubai, beat Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-3 in a rematch of their Dubai quarter-final last week.

Tsitsipas dropped just eight points on his serve as he wrong-footed the Italian with a variety of athletic shots, breaking him three times on the way to victory in 68 minutes.

After months in the doldrums Tsitsipas said he was relishing a new mental approach to the game.

“I just feel like I want to get out there on the court and be a gladiator, and that’s how I approach every single match I get to play,” he said.

Tallon Griekspoor, the world No. 43 from the Netherlands who shocked world number two and top seed Alexander Zverev in the second round, backed up his big win with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 victory over France’s 29th seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Griekspoor needed an hour and 16 minutes to secure the win, but in a season in which dropping the first set has become an alarming habit that was fast enough. “It feels nice to win a match in under one and a half hour,” he said.

Griekspoor next faces Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki, who hit 47 winners in his 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) upset of 16th-seeded American Frances Tiafoe.

Ranked 349th in the world after missing more than six months last season with left knee tendinitis, Watanuki is the lowest-ranked player to reach the fourth round since 882nd-ranked Tommy Haas in 2004.

Agence France-Presse