Iga Swiatek, the world No. 1, blasted past American Danielle Collins 6-3, 6-0, Angelique Kerber upset 10th seed Jelena Ostapenko and defending champion Elena Rybakina withdrew with illness in second-round action at Indian Wells on
Friday.
Swiatek edged Collins in an epic at the Australian Open and the familiar foes appeared primed for another blockbuster when they were on serve with the Pole leading 4-3 in the first set.
But Swiatek raised her level, breaking to love for 5-3 and winning the final nine games to advance in the tournament she won in 2022.
“I started to make a few less mistakes, which gave Danielle a chance to make a few more,” Swiatek said.
“It’s a small difference but in the end, I was ready to play well in those important moments, on break points and stuff like that. I’m happy I kept my focus and stayed with my game, no matter what Danielle was doing on the other side of the net.”
Collins in January said she would retire at the end of the season so this is expected to be the 30-year-old’s final appearance at Indian Wells.
Kerber scored her biggest win in three years with an impressive 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory over hard-hitting Latvian Ostapenko.
In another upset, 22-year-old American Katie Volynets stunned sixth seed Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 and will face Caroline Wozniacki in the third round after the Dane outlasted Donna Vekic 7-6(5), 6-3.
World No. 4 Rybakina, who has been playing great tennis this season, was forced to withdraw “with great sadness” on Friday due to gastrointestinal issues.
Seventh-seeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova, Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk were among the other players who advanced to the third round of the WTA 1000 event in the California desert.
Murray’s miss
On the men’s side, Andrey Rublev defeated Andy Murray 7-6 (3), 6-1, while Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis to extend his winning streak to 16 matches.
Murray did his best to frustrate the hot-headed Rublev — the Russian who was defaulted from last week’s Dubai Championships — but missed a big chance to snatch the first set and then fell away quickly.
Murray held three set points at 5-4 in the opener. He was extremely competitive against the world No. 5 for the first hour. But he could not continue his fight in the second set.
Murray is expected to next play in the 175-point “super-Challenger” in Phoenix, a lesser event before the competition re-enters the top-dollar events in Miami. Murray has already said that he expects to retire at some stage in the summer.
Alejandro Tabilo, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur also won in straight sets.
