Iga Swiatek showed her strength by easily beating her rival Zheng Qinwen in the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells tournament on Friday. Swiatek won the match 6-3, 6-3. Last year, Zheng beat Swiatek in the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics, making this victory even sweeter for her.
After the match, someone asked Swiatek if winning a bronze medal in the 2024 Olympics pushed her to win against Zheng. Swiatek replied that losing in the past motivated her to do better this time. “For sure it does,” she said. “It’s always tough to lose, and you want to prove that you can win.”
Swiatek is the defending champion at Indian Wells and is now the first player ever to reach the semi-finals for four years in a row. With this win, she has now achieved ten straight victories at Indian Wells.
Talking about the match, Swiatek mentioned that the wind made things tricky towards the end. “You need to adjust quickly, and it’s not easy,” she explained. “But I’m really happy that I stayed focused and composed.”
By reaching the semi-finals, Swiatek joined the elite group of players who have won all their first four quarter-final matches at WTA 1000 tournaments. So far in this tournament, she has only lost 12 games, which is one of the fewest by any player reaching this stage in recent years.
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