Tennis

Swiatek to face Russian teen Andreeva in Indian Wells semi-finals

March 15, 2025 12:05 pm

Iga Swiatek. [Source: Reuters]

Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert.

In the men’s draw, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3 7-6(4).

Swiatek, one of the gold medal favourites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the Paris semis last year, converted all five of her break-point chances during a 94-minute match that was interrupted multiple times to dry the court.

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Up next for defending champion Swiatek, who has dropped just 12 games across her four matches will be Andreeva after the ninth seed’s 7-5 6-3 win over Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

Andreeva beat Swiatek convincingly en route to the title in Dubai last month and is the youngest woman to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells since Maria Sharapova in 2005.

The Russian continued to live up to the hype around her, playing a relentless brand of tennis to extend her win streak to 10 matches.

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka hit a sensational running backhanded winner on match point to beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 6-3 and set up an Australian Open final rematch with American Madison Keys, who steamrolled Belinda Bencic 6-1 6-1.

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