Defending champion Iga Swiatek made history in Indian Wells, Calif., on Thursday, becoming the first woman to advance to the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open four years in a row.
The second-seeded Polish player rolled past eighth-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Swiatek, the event’s champion in 2022 and 2024, has yet to lose a set in this year’s tournament. She has a 10-match Indian Wells winning streak as she has adapted to changing conditions in the desert.
“I think every time is a bit different,” Swiatek said when asked about the conditions. “If I’m gonna adjust well, then I’m gonna be able to use it to my advantage in terms of, I don’t know, playing more spinny with the wind so it bounces even higher.”
The result was the reversal of players’ match in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics on a clay court last summer. Zheng wound up with the gold medal, and Swiatek claimed bronze. Swiatek has now won seven of her eight career meetings with Zheng.
“Well, obviously (my coach) analyzed this match,” Swiatek said, looking back on the Paris defeat. “And we kind of spoke about it a bit. But, besides the fact that this was the only match that I lost against Qinwen and I wanted to learn from it, it didn’t really cross my mind that much, because I knew that this is on hard court and I knew what I did wrong in the Olympics.”
Next up for Swiatek is a semifinal against ninth-seeded Russian Mirra Andreeva, who beat 23rd-seeded Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-3.
The other semifinal will feature top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and fifth-seeded Madison Keys of the United States.
Sabalenka cruised past 24th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in 82 minutes, while Keys needed just 64 minutes to eliminated Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-1.
Keys is the hottest player on tour, having captured the Australian Open title as part of an ongoing 16-match winning streak.
“I think the reality of winning as many matches as I have this early in a season hasn’t ever really happened for me, so I think there is definitely a lot of just kind of confidence from all those wins under your belt,” Keys said. “I think it kind of gives me the confidence to, in really tight situations, just continue to go for whatever I want to.”
Sabalenka gets a rematch with Keys after falling in the Australian Open final, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
–Field Level Media
