Swiatek cruises into quarterfinals at Indian Wells

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.

Swiatek 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.

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.

Swiatek closed it out in 57 minutes with an unreturnable serve to set up a meeting with either Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China or Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who close out the night session on the main court.

“From the beginning, I felt like … I can lead and I didn’t make many mistakes at the beginning, so then later on I just didn’t want to let Karo … be able to start playing her game,” Swiatek told reporters. “I’m happy I did that till the end.”

Information from Reuters was used in this report.