Before the match with Ostapenko, Iga Świątek presented himself in the sensational Indian Wells. Our best player dealt quickly with Croatian Petra Martic and Russian Wironika Kudermetwa. In total, Świątek lost only five matches in these two encounters. So far, the tennis player from Raszyn has given a great performance in the title role of “2”.
However, in the final 1/8 of Indian Wells, a more difficult task awaited Iga. Pole-style Jelena Ostapenko won the French Open Grand Slam years ago. Latvia won the Paris Slam tournament in 2017, while Švijk enjoyed the win three years later. Currently, Ostapenko is the 29th rocket in the world, and the Polish woman is in fourth place in the WTA rankings.
Prior to the Indian Wells meeting, the two women had the opportunity to meet in court only once. At the tournament in Birmingham in 2019, Jelena Ostapenko turned out to be the best. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Iga Świątek appeared to be the absolute favorite in Tuesday’s match.
The first set was relatively easy at first. The Polish girl played high in a classic way, and her opponent sent very fast flat hits. The hard surface of the court in Washington prioritized Ostapenko’s style of play.
At the beginning of the first set, the Latvian entered the field very well, and Iga had an obvious problem with receiving hits flying low over the net. However, at 3:3, Ostapenko made two minor mistakes in her serve game, and Świątek’s comeback gave her the end of the first half.
But after a moment, the Latvian was back in the game. Ostapenko responded with an attacking strike, and her game of service Świątek looked almost perfect. Until the end of the first match, Latvia played like a musical note and after winning three games in a row, they triumphed 6:4.
Iga started the second set very well and quickly broke through her competition, but this set was exceptionally eliminated on Tuesday. Ostapenko made up for the loss on the serve and thanks to aggressive play near the line, I took a 4:3 lead.
Świątek then requested a medical break due to abdominal pain. After returning to the field, unfortunately, the Latvian still dominated, which quickly broke Iga and won this match 6:3. Ostapenko qualified for the quarter-finals of Indian Wells.
Jelena Ostapenko – Iga Shevichtek 6: 4, 6: 3
