Iga Swiatek continued her sensational winning form at Indian Wells by crushing Karolina Muchova 6-1 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open.
Swiatek brushed aside the Czech 15th seed in just 57 minutes and has marched into the last eight for the loss of only six games in total over three matches.
Second seed Swiatek has now won her last 16 matches in the California desert in straight sets with her semi-final defeat to Elena Rybakina two years ago her only blemish since 2021.
Swiatek will face the winner of the match between Qinwen Zheng and Marta Kostyuk on Thursday.
Annabel Croft speaking on Sky Sports Tennis
“It wasn’t much of a contest right from the word go when she was broken in that opening game. She hadn’t got enough first serves in and it kind of went from bad to worse where she struggled to get on the scoreboard,” said the former British No 1.
“She did well to get the two games she did to be honest with you. I just think these conditions did not suit Muchova at all. She couldn’t keep the ball going or stay with Swiatek in those slow baseline exchanges.
“Swiatek looks so comfortable. She’s not rushed, she’s balanced on all the groundstrokes, she creates the angles and she is rock solid at the back.”
Tweener lob perfection from Rune in Tsitsipas win
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Highlights of Holger Rune against Stefanos Tsitsipas
Holger Rune overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-4 in the fourth round to snap the Greek’s seven-match winning streak.
The Dane struck 22 winners and hit one of the shots of the season to crucially save a break point in the second set.
He scampered to the baseline and instinctively hit a tweener lob that landed on the baseline.
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Rune saved a break point against Tsitsipas with this incredible tweener lob…
“I think it was an extremely good match from my side from start to finish,” Rune said. “I stayed very committed on my game plan and mentally I was very good. I think that made the difference, how composed I could start. Because Stef is back in shape I think it is fair to say. It was a cool battle.”
“The tweener is the first thing I am going to check when I check my phone. That was better than I expected,” Rune added.
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