Iga Swiatek cruises into Indian Wells final to face rematch with Maria Sakkari

Top seed Iga Swiatek takes on Maria Sakkari in the women’s final of Indian Wells after a near-flawless performance, edging past Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1.

Sakkari found the trickier, having to overcome a Coco Gauff fight to book a place in the decider with a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2 victory in a lengthy, rain-interrupted battle. The final between Swiatek and Sakkari will be a repeat of the 2022 showdown, when the current world number 1 lifted the Indian Wells trophy for the first time.

Swiatek made her intentions clear against Kostyuk early with an aggressive start, claiming a break for a 2-1 lead. She pulled further away when Kostyuk hit a double fault two games later, wrapping up the opening set in 31 minutes.

The 21-year-old Kostyuk was again put through the wringer by Swiatek at the beginning of the second set. A powerful hit on the net gave Swiatek another break. The four-time Grand Slam champion withstood some pressure from the 31st seed in the next match before building a 3-0 lead.

Kostyuk appeared to be struggling with a left foot problem and a medical timeout only delayed the inevitable as Swiatek cruised to a WTA Tour-leading 19th match victory of the season, closing the match with a forehand winner. “I’m certainly happy with the performance. I think it was the cleanest match I played here. It is already a great tournament,” said Swiatek.

In the second semifinal, US Open champion Gauff Sakkari broke early, but the No. 9 seed fought back to take a first set, interrupted by a brief rain delay at 6–4. A long break due to weather delayed the start of the second set, Sakkari settled quickest on the restart and broke the American twice to lead 5–2.

But Sakkari could not serve out the match despite having a match point as Gauff broke back to take the set on the tiebreak. Gauff broke again early in the third set, but Sakkari dug in and rattled off four games in a row to regain control.

This time Sakkari was able to get the job done, breaking Gauff again and completing the win after two hours and 41 minutes on the track.