Polish Iga Swiatek (n.1) and Greek Maria Sakkari (n.9) qualified this Friday for the Indian Wells finalso the Californian desert tournament will have the same final in the women’s team that it witnessed two years ago.
In the 2022 final, Swiatek defeated Sakkari 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 20 minutes.
In their semi-final this Friday, Swiatek beat Marta Kostyuk (no.32) 6-2, 6-1 in one hour and 9 minutes
In front of the peaceful promenade of WTA number 1, Sakkari experienced a roller coaster against American Coco Gauff (n.3) mainly due to rain, which caused two stoppages in play: one of 20 minutes and another of two hours longer.
But the match also had many ups and downs in terms of tennis. Sakkari took the first set 6-4, led 5-2 in the second and had three match points to close out the match.
However, the Greek lost twice in a row on his serveGauff reacted strongly and the match went to the third set after 6-7(5) for the American.
In the final round, Sakkari regained his best game and sealed his place in the final with 6-2, after two hours and 42 minutes on court and close to 11:15 pm local time.
Sakkari dominated precedents against Swiatek 3-2but the Pole won the last two matches between them: the aforementioned Indian Wells final in 2022 and the semifinal in Doha in 2022.
The winner of Sunday’s final will take over from Kazakh Elena RybakinaIndian Wells champion in 2023.
Source: La Verdad
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