Indian Wells final: Iga Swiatek breezes to 20th career title with victory over Maria Sakkari

Iga Swiatek claimed the 20th title of her career without dropping a single set across the tournament, defeating Maria Sakkari in the Indian Wells Open final on Sunday afternoon.

The world No.1 – fast approaching an unbroken two years at the top of the rankings – only hit the tournament mark for six hours on court during the first set on Sunday, having breezed through to the final. Sakkari, as if she needed another disadvantage, had racked up almost double the playing time.

Swiatek, the fresher woman, predictably raced into a 3-0 lead, before Sakkari held her serve to claw one back and begin to show signs of troubling her illustrious opponent.

The Greek then impressively broke Swiatek and levelled proceedings at 3-3, and again bit back to 4-4. Ultimately, though, the Polish sensation went up a gear and clinched the first set 6-4.

From her previous 69 WTA 1000 matches in that position, she had won every single one. And that record wouldn’t end here.

Swiatek showed her supreme quality in nearly every rally, wearing down the world No.9 and closing up every suggestion of light at the end of the tunnel. An utterly demoralised Sakkari looked helpless in the destructive final game.

It was a ruthless display to dismantle Sakkari 6-0 in the second set, the end of which came just over 20 minutes after the first, to scoop her $1.1 million prize with what looked like relative ease.

Sakkari, who has now lost eight of 10 finals, said: “Sorry I couldn’t put up a better fight. It was pretty quick. You’re an amazing player, great person, incredible champion. You deserve the best.”

Swiatek, whose biggest scare of the day came from the blast of confetti during the trophy presentation, added: “Every year I come here, I feel a really positive vibe.

“It’s amazing. Congrats to Maria. You are one of these players always fighting, going through ups and downs. You are going to achieve great things together with your team.

“I want to thank my team, for every little thing we work on, which ends up working. For sure we’re going to celebrate – many things to celebrate.”

The 22-year-old becomes the first No.1 seed to lift the Indian Wells title since Victoria Azarenka 12 years ago, and in a year’s time will aim to become the first woman ever to win the unofficial ‘fifth major’ three times.

Immediately in her sights is the Miami Open this coming week, with Swiatek having previously won the ‘Sunshine Double’ in 2022. There looks to be no stopping her repeating the feat.