The ingredients that go into the making of a champion are many and various; increasingly, Iga Swiatek seems to have them all. A player who talks frequently of finding solutions, Swiatek has shown herself impressively adept at alighting upon them in Indian Wells. For the third match in succession, the Pole fought back from a set down, prevailing 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 over former world No 1 Angelique Kerber to book a quarter-final spot in a victory that offered further evidence of her technical and tactical versatility, mental toughness and formidable powers of endurance.
Kerber has not have enjoyed the best start to the year, losing in the opening round of her only two tournaments, but the 34-year-old remains a wily and determined competitor, and in the early stages here she caused the third seed all manner of problems. The German had Swiatek on the back foot from the opening game, when she threw up a perfectly measured lob to secure the first break of the afternoon, and kept her there throughout the early stages with a combination of bold ball-striking and relentless physical and mental intensity.
Much has been made of Swiatek’s increased aggression under new coach Tomasz Witkorowski, who has encouraged his young charge to hit through the ball rather than relying purely on the more attritional, topspin-heavy game that underpinned her breakthrough triumph at the French Open. Yet it quickly became apparent that Kerber – unsurprisingly, for a player who has twice beaten Serena Williams in grand slam finals – was undaunted by her opponent’s power, which she not only absorbed but frequently sent back with interest.
The veteran’s assurance created doubt in Swiatek’s mind, leaving her uncertain whether to stick or twist.
“It was really hard playing against her,” admitted Swiatek, for whom victory prolonged a winning streak that now stands at eight matches following her title run in Doha last month. “She’s such an experienced player. It’s never easy. Truth be told, I wasn’t really sure what my tactics should be, if I should be more aggressive or play a more patient game. But at the end I think I made the right decisions [at the] right time, in the right moments of the match.”
Swiatek’s battle-hardened response to a potentially pivotal moment of crisis supported that analysis. Having faded in the second set as the demands of a baseline duel conducted in scorching heat began to tell, Kerber edged ahead again in the fifth game of the decider, exhibiting a virtuoso command of rhythm and tempo to convert the second of two break points.
The manner in which Kerber achieved the breakthrough had the feel of a turning point. First the German went high, lofting a moonball return deep to the baseline. Then she went slow, soaking up a barrage of drives to either corner, killing the pace with a floated slice, refusing to take Swiatek’s high-octane bait. Finally came the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it coup de grâce, a blazing backhand winner delivered into the space created by a redirected forehand.
Swiatek, who has practised with Kerber but never previously faced her on the match court, admitted that she had been unprepared for such guile.
“You never know what you’re going to get on court, so you have to adjust and you have to really observe what your opponent is doing,” said the Pole, who broke back immediately and then closed out the contest with a devastating flurry of winners that included three aces in two service games.
“I thought that Angie played much different than she played in practice with me, [than] what I was expecting. For sure, she wanted me to be maybe distracted, like not sure of what’s going on. She didn’t play that high ball in our practice. I felt like she wanted to use her experience and kind of trick me.
“But, I mean, I like that because it’s like a new experience for me. You’re not going to get that from many players, because not many players have been on tour for such a long time. I’m pretty proud of myself that I could win against such a smart player.”
So she should be. There is a growing sense of completeness about Swiatek, who has left no stone unturned in her quest for improvement. The 20-year-old’s latest victory bore multiple fingerprints, from the attacking mindset encouraged by Witkorowski to the mental toughness instilled by Daria Abramowicz, the psychologist with whom she has been working since 2019, and the physical endurance cultivated by her trainer Maciej Ryszczuk.
The influence of Abramowicz has been especially apparent in Indian Wells. For the past two seasons, winning the opening set against Swiatek was virtually a guarantee of victory. Clearly that is no longer the case. This was the fifth time in three months that the Pole has come back from a set down – one more than she managed in the previous two years combined. She has become quite the comeback queen.
A naturally emotional character whose tearful defeats at the Tokyo Olympics and WTA Finals last season made for tough viewing, Swiatek has acquired an improved sense of perspective for which, she says, she has Abramowicz to thank.
“I think my work that I’ve been doing with Daria is clicking, basically,” said Swiatek after her win over the Danish teenager Clara Tauson in the previous round. “Mentally, I feel that I have more skills right now to just stay calm and think about solutions, because before I struggled with emotions a little bit.
“After I lost the first set I wanted to be more pumped up and have more energy and whatever. But right now it’s like more focused, and it’s easier for me to find solutions. Getting pumped up, it’s not going to help you sometimes.
“Usually I’m pretty emotional, so when you have all these emotions coming you kind of feel like your view is not clear. But right now it is much, much clearer for me.
“Before when I was losing, I felt like my whole life is bad and like the base of my existing is suddenly destroyed because I’m losing a tennis match, you know? Right now I have more distance to everything, and I can see clearly. Basically, I’m just more calm and more confident.”
That clarity will be tested again in the quarter-finals, where Swiatek will face the resurgent Madison Keys, the 25th seed from the US, who defeated Britain’s Harriet Dart 6-1, 6-4.
“It’s going to be a match against a really experienced player who has played so many times here,” said Swiatek of the prospect of facing a player who, like her, reached the last four at January’s Australian Open. “I’ve got to be ready for everything.”
If her progress to this point is anything to go by, she will be.