Iga Swiatek takes Indian Wells title, will rise to No. 2 ranking

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No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland extended her winning streak to 11 matches and won the BNP Paribas Open by defeating sixth seed Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday in Indian Wells, Calif.

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The 2020 French Open champion entered the week ranked fourth in the world and will rise to a career-high No. 2 ranking on Monday. Swiatek had come to the Southern California desert following a victory at the Qatar Open in Doha last month.

“I wasn’t expecting to be in that place, honestly,” Swiatek said of her title. “Especially after playing so well in previous tournaments, I didn’t know it’s possible for me to play that well and that long.”

Swiatek took care of business in an hour and 20 minutes by converting 6 of 11 break-point opportunities and defending Sakkari’s second serve. The 20-year-old from Warsaw won 20 of 25 second-return points, including 14 of 16 in the first set.

Swiatek became the first Polish woman to win at Indian Wells and will tie Agnieszka Radwanska as the highest-ranked Polish player in the sport’s history.

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Due to high winds, both players struggled with their serve, especially in the first set. Each player broke the other’s serve three times before Swiatek broke a 4-4 tie by holding serve and break Sakkari to win the set.

Swiatek then won the final five games of the second set to run away with the victory.

“I want to congratulate Maria because every match against you is a great battle,” Swiatek said. “We already started a pretty cool rivalry and I think it’s going to last for, like, 10 more years. It’s going to be exciting and I’m sure we’re going to play many more finals.”

Sakkari, who defeated defending champion Paula Badosa of Spain in the semifinals, will rise to a career-high No. 3 world ranking next week. It is the furthest she has advanced at a WTA 1000-tier tournament.

“It’s one of the best tournaments in the world. It’s going to have a very special place in my heart,” Sakkari said. “Even (though) today was not my day, I’ll just say it’s going to have a very special place in my heart because I have a lot of emotions playing here.”