Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek won her 11th straight match on way to defeating Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1 to lift the 2022 BNP Paribas Open trophy at Indian Wells on Monday (IST).
The victory in the WTA 1000 event has given the 20-year-old player a jump of two places, to World No.2, in the latest rankings released on Monday.
Swiatek’s dominance at the WTA 1000 events this season continued unabated here, as the No.3 seed became the first Polish woman to claim the title at Indian Wells, surpassing the result by 2014 BNP Paribas Open runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska. Swiatek will also tie former world No.2 Radwanska as the highest-ranked Polish player in history.
With the win, which came in just 80 minutes, Swiatek also became the first woman to reach 20 match-wins this season. Swiatek’s victory also marks her career-best 11th straight match-win on the WTA Tour, with that streak coming at the first two WTA 1000 events of the season.
Swiatek claimed the title last month at the WTA 1000 Qatar Open in Doha. By backing that crown up at her next event in Indian Wells, she improves to an undefeated 11-0 at WTA 1000-level so far this year.
Earlier, Taylor Fritz stunned Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to win the ATP Indian Wells Masters and end the 21-time Grand Slam champion’s perfect 20-0 run to start 2022.
Fritz, ranked 20th in the world, claimed his second career title and his first at the elite Masters 1000 level while denying Nadal a record-equalling 37th Masters crown.
The 24-year-old American achieved his biggest triumph despite an injured right ankle that was so painful when he tested it Sunday morning he didn’t think he’d be able to play.
