There is nothing unusual in seeing a player rushed, harried and battered into submission when Iga Swiatek takes to the court. What is not at all normal is watching Swiatek absorb, rather than administer, the punishment.
That was nonetheless the unfamiliar role in which the Polish world No 1 was cast on Friday night in Indian Wells as Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion and 10th seed, trounced the title holder 6-2, 6-2 to reach her first WTA 1000 final.
It was the 23-year-old Kazakh’s second straight-sets win over Swiatek in three months, following her fourth-round victory at the Australian Open, and the latest evidence of the Pole’s vulnerability to opponents equipped with the firepower and conviction to take on their shots and deny her time.
As Rybakina suggested, it is not a good match-up for Swiatek, who received an unwelcome taste of her own medicine after conceding just 15 games en route to the semi-finals.
“I think just my aggressive style of game [and] big serves,” said Rybakina, who will face Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday’s final, when asked how she has managed to win four sets in a row against a player whose recent results had suggested a return to the kind of all-conquering form that saw her complete the “sunshine double” of Indian Wells and Miami last year.
“Today, I was pushing a lot. I think that just, overall, some players it’s more difficult to play against. With Iga, she’s tough, a really tough opponent. But when I play this good and everything goes in – because today some moments I played, I would say, on my highest level – there are moments where you can feel, ‘OK, I can beat anyone if I always play like this.’
“It’s the goal, but you never feel amazing and perfect every match. I think today it was just really good from me.”
Rybakina’s performance was all the more remarkable for following hard on the heels of two hours and 45 minutes of relentless toil against Karolina Muchova, the gifted Czech who put out former champion Victoria Azarenka earlier in the week. Having chastised herself for making a slow start to that match, Rybakina began at a rate of knots against Swiatek, rattling through her opening service game before claiming a break that set the tone for the entire contest.
Much has been made of the slow conditions at the tournament – not least by Daniil Medvedev, whose midweek monologue on the subject seems destined to enter tennis folklore – but the Kazakh’s ability to hit through the court has made it look positively zippy at times. Time and again her clean, flat ball-striking and impeccable length, almost Djokovic-like in its precision and consistency, rushed Swiatek into error. The Pole’s exasperation was compounded by her apparent inability to get a read on Rybakina’s intentions, which frequently left her flat-footed as the Kazakh fired the ball in behind her.
From 4-2 in the first set, Rybakina won seven games in a row to put the match beyond her beleaguered opponent. Swiatek belatedly held to avoid the indignity of a second-set whitewash, and even saved a couple of match points in the next game to lend an air of relative respectability to the score-line. But her discombobulation was evident when, serving to stay in the match for a second time, she produced a clean-air shot after getting her feet in a tangle. The end came mercifully swiftly after that, a final backhand pass flying long.
Swiatek revealed afterwards that she is nursing a rib injury, although she hopes to be fit to defend her Miami Open title. It is no secret that the 21-year-old regards Rafael Nadal as a role model, but it would seem that this time she may have pushed her desire to emulate the great Spaniard, who suffered a cracked rib at the same stage of the tournament last year, a little too far.
“I’m not feeling 100% physically,” said Swiatek. “I have a little discomfort in my rib, and we’re going to consult with a medical team.
“We’ll see, because I still have to run some tests and see what’s going on. I don’t know yet.”
Rybakina, meanwhile, will now go forward to face Sabalenka, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over last year’s finalist Maria Sakkari, in a rerun of January’s Australian Open final. The Kazakh will be eager to alter the trajectory of a rivalry that has not been kind to her.
“I lost the last four times, and it was always three sets,” said Rybakina. “I [need] to play better in these important moments and hold serve, because I think a few times it was just because of one break.
“It’s not going to be an easy match, and it’s going to be in these clutch moments I just need to play better.”
If she reproduces the level she showed against Swiatek, she should do just fine.