By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, October 10, 2021
Iga Swiatek celebrated the one-year anniversary of her Roland Garros title slamming Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-0 to charge into the Indian Wells fourth round.
Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open Facebook
Championship tennis demands attention to detail and impeccable timing.
Digging into her Tecnifibre bag, Iga Swiatek pulled out a Rolex snapping her sponsor timepiece on her wrist before greeting the cheering Stadium crowd with a smile and a wave.
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Breezing through games as if operating on a stop watch, Swiatek celebrated the one-year anniversary of her Roland Garros triumph slamming Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-0 to storm into the Indian Wells fourth round.
Timing the ball beautifully and commanding the center of the court, Swiatek blazed through three of the last seven games at love dispensing a 54-minute thrashing for her second win over Kudermetova in as many meetings.
The Swiatek serve set the tone for the match. The second seed slashed five aces against no double faults, did not face a break point and won 28 of 33 points played on her serve improving to 35-12 in 2021.
Through two rounds, a ruthless Swiatek has surrendered just five games and will face either Yulia Putintseva or fellow former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko for a place in the quarterfinals.
In today’s Stadium 1 opener, Swiatek was simply too sharp for an out of sorts Kudermetova in an overwhelming performance.
One of four Russians to reach the third round, Kudermetova created problems for herself from the outset double-faulting away the break in her opening service games. Swiatek was snapping her serve into Kudermetova’s hip handcuffing the Russian holding to confirm the break for 3-0.
The Wimbledon doubles finalist made a fine reflex volley to get on the board in the fourth game.
The second-seeded Swiatek was trampolining her topspin forehand off the purple court with such precision even when Kudermetova held her ground in the former corner, the Pole still pounded a forehand past her. Kudermetova squandered a 30-0 lead as Swiatek broke again for 5-1.
Slashing a forehand down the line gave Swiatek three set points. Sliding an ace down the middle, Swiatek swept through a dominant opening set in 27 minutes.
Charleston champion Kudermetova looked lethargic and struggled to solve the 2020 Roland Garros’ commanding combination of kick serve and topspin forehand.
The second seed broke to start the second set then surged through 12 of the next 14 points to extend her lead to 4-0. Swiatek served with authority and returned with accuracy. Belting a backhand return down the line, Swiatek broke for 5-0.
When Kudermetova put a forehand return into net, Swiatek was through to the fourth round.