Iga Swiatek (Twitter)
Top seed Iga Swiatek will face 32nd seed Bianca Andreescu in the round of 32 of the 2023 Indian Wells on Monday.
The defending champion started the tournament from where she left off in 2022. After receiving a bye into the second round, Swiatek squared off against Claire Liu in the round of 64. Liu came into the match after defeating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the first round.
The Polish star dominated the clash as she dropped just one game. The match ended 6-0, 6-1 in favor of Swiatek. She had a win percentage of 77 on the first serve and converted 5 out of 9 break points. During the encounter, Swiatek’s serve wasn’t broken.
The 22-year-old came into the tournament on the back of a 3-match losing streak. She took on America’s Peyton Stearns in the round of 64. Stearns came into the second round after beating Rebeca Masarova in the first round.
Andreescu dropped the first set against Stearns. However, she didn’t panic and played well to win the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to set up a clash with Swiatek. In the encounter, Andreescu managed to convert 7 out of 9 break points. Her win percentage on the first serve wasn’t great though as it was only 61. Andreescu will know that she would have to play her A-game to get past the world No. 1 Swiatek in the round of 32.
Iga Swiatek leads the head-to-head scoreline 1-0. She defeated Andreescu 7-6, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Italian Open.
Prediction: Iga Swiatek to win in straight sets.
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