Women's World No. 1 Iga Swiatek will be expecting to reach her second Indian Wells final when she meets Marta Kostyuk at the semi-final stage in California on Friday.
The pair have only ever met once before, which was when Swiatek won at the French Open in 2021.
Match preview
© Reuters
Swiatek should be incredibly fresh having only completed seven sets across four matches to reach her third successive semi-final at Indian Wells, with former US Open champion Caroline Wozniacki forced to retire from their quarter-final meeting.
Swiatek came from 4-1 down to take the first set 6-4, with Wozniacki requiring a medical timeout prior to the second set beginning. The Dane valiantly battled on but she could only manage one more game before being forced to retire from proceedings.
The Pole was clearly disappointed to win in that manner, especially having not been particularly pushed in any of her preceding three matches. "Huge respect for her, and I'm sad that we had to finish that way," Swiatek admitted after the match.
The three-time French Open champion, who is still only 22 years of age, will be desperate to maintain momentum ahead of the clay court season beginning next month, and she will already have her sights on a potential showdown against Coco Gauff in the final on Sunday.
However, Kostyuk will certainly have something to say about that, having secured her first ever semi-final appearance at a WTA 1000 tournament by beating Anastasia Potapova 6-0 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
Kostyuk cruised through the opening set, winning nine of the final 10 points to seal an emphatic bagel inside 25 minutes. A second successive one looked on the cards when Kostyuk raced into a 3 -0 lead in the second set, but Potapova fought back to force the set to 12 games at least.
Understandably, Kostyuk was visibly emotional after the end of the match. "It feels very surreal," the 21-year-old admitted. "If someone told us two or three weeks ago that I would be in the semi-final here, I would never have believed it."
Like her formidable forthcoming opponent, that victory means the 31st seed is yet to drop a set at this year's tournament, so something has to give when they meet on Friday. Kostyuk will clearly head into the encounter as a sizeable underdog, but on current form, there is no obvious reason as to why she cannot win.
Tournament so far
Iga Swiatek:
Second round: vs. Danielle Collins 6-3 6-0
Third round: vs. Linda Noskova 6-4 6-0
Round of 16: vs. Yulia Putintseva 6-1 6-2
Quarter-final: vs. Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 1-0 [ret]
Marta Kostyuk:
Second round: vs. Mai Hontama 6-4 6-2
Third round: vs. Marketa Vondrousova w/o
Round of 16: vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-1
Quarter-final: vs. Anastasia Potapova 6-0 7-5
Head To Head
French Open (2021) - Fourth round: Swiatek def. Kostyuk 6-3 6-4
The pair have only met once during their fledgling careers so far, with Swiatek coming out on top on her favourite surface. However, Kostyuk - who was only 18-years-old at that point - gave a fine account of herself, and will surely fancy her chances much more on a hard court.
We say: Swiatek to win in three sets
Having reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open earlier this year before securing her first semi-final appearance at a WTA 1000 tournament here, Kostyuk will be full of confidence heading into this encounter.
However, Swiatek is World No.1 for a reason, and she will be determined to lift her second Indian Wells trophy after missing out last year. The Pole has been in fine form lately and we are backing her to prevail, but it may take three sets for the first time this week.
Brett Curtis
