World No. 2 Iga Swiatek has stormed into the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells 2026 on Wednesday, March 11. The Polish star edged past the Czech 13th seed Karolina Muchova in the fourth round match after defeating her by sets of 6-2, 6-0. It was a one-sided affair as Swiatek sealed off 10 consecutive games in the match. The win was her fifth winover Muchova whom she had earlier defeated at the last edition of the Indian Wells tournament.
Swiatek who is competing for her third title win will next face Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals match. During her on-court interview, the Polish star talked about her improvements and growth as a player and credited the tournament with her success so far.
Swiatek said, “I felt I was playing better and better, just great. I love playing here, I love the conditions. I started to understand them a bit better a couple of years back, and since then, it feels like I can really use my advantages here. It’s a great place to play tennis, hopefully I can keep doing that until the end.”
Swiatek the ATP and WTA Masters 1000 champion of the 2022 and 2024 editions had earlier defeated America’s Kayla Day in sets of 6-0, 7-6 (7/2).
On the other hand, America’s Jessica Pegula defeated Belinda Bencic by sets of 6-3, 7-6(5). This was her first win over Bencic in the five meetings that they have had so far. The fifth-seed is coming off a dramatic win over Jelena Ostapenko.
Swiatek reflects on her win
While talking about her victory over Karolina, Swiatek reflected on her performance and the confidence that she carried when opening the first round against the Czech player.
“I think it was a great match. I felt really solid like I could really, you know, from the beginning, till the end, play my kind of game and just play how I wanted to. So, I think the beginning was, you know, kind of tight. We played you know kind of the same level but then, I managed to like, step up and break,” Swiatek mentioned.
When asked about her game plan by an interviewer post-match win, the Polish star felt she finished off the match well did not rush things to lose out on any match points but was rather focused. She also mentioned using her forehand skills to her advantage in more games ahead.
“No, I always want to be proactive with my forehand because this is you know what give me points. I think I just you know chase the right balls to go forward or you know stay back and um grind a bit more and play with more shape. I think just the decision-making was kind of good today so I didn’t rush and I had you know just comfortable situations to do what I wanted to so I think it’s a combination of that but overall you know I always kind of want to do a lot with my forehand,” she added.
Inputs sourced from [BNP Paribas Open], [Sportstar]
