By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Five-time Grand Slam champion and current world no. 2 female tennis player Iga Swiatek advanced to the quarterfinal round of the BNP Paribas Indian Wells Open after blanking Karolina Muchova- 6.1, 6.1- in the Round of 16 stage on March 12, 2025.
The Polish ace barely broke a sweat against Muchova and displayed her usual unmatched baseline power, needing only less than an hour to dispose the world no. 15 ranked female player.
From the get-go, Swiatek quickly established her footing in the match after scoring an early break point while holding her pair of first-service possessions to race to a 4-1 advantage.
Too powerful and too crafty for Muchova, Swiatek iced the opening set with an off-the-bounce down-the-line forehand bomb that put the crowd in attendance to their feet.
The second set started well for Swiatek, who was looking to replicate her almost perfect tennis display but the Czech tactician switched approaches, which changed the complexion of the game for a brief moment.
Muchova went for a serve and volley, and later on adjusted to targeting Swiatek’s no man’s land that forced her to come up to the net area.
Not known as a lethal net player, Swiatek accepted the challenge and showcased her much- improved gameplay on the inside as she pummeled Muchova’s lob attempts with powerful overhand smashes.
In the final four-game possessions, Swiatek put the nail in the coffin with a series of groundstroke power shots from both her forehand and backhand strokes.
Swiatek capped off the dominant victory with 50 points won, while also tallying 22 receiving points won in less than an hour of contest.
Despite not registering a single service ace, Swiatek made it with an 88% winning percentage on her first service possession backstopped by five break points scored.
Swiatek will still have one more day of recovery before returning to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the quarterfinal round.
