Iga Swiatek Reveals When She Rediscovered Her Form

Iga Swiatek will be playing her third quarterfinal of the season. In the ongoing Indian Wells, the Pole dismantled Karolina Muchova 6-2, 6-0 in 77 minutes on Wednesday (March 11) to inch closer to her third title in the tournament.

Swiatek, who lifted the third WTA 1000 of the season in 2022 and 2024 by defeating Maria Sakkari, has improved her head-to-head record over Muchova to 5-1. The World No.1 did not face a break point but broke Muchova five times out of seven she faced.

At the press conference after her strong performance against the reigning Qatar Open winner, the six-time Grand Slam champion was asked when she rediscovered her tennis.

I wouldn’t say there was a moment when everything suddenly clicked. Before coming here, I also played well in Warsaw. When you change from winter conditions, playing indoors in sub-zero temperatures, to a tournament like Indian Wells, it’s normal for your tennis to feel it.

Prior to arriving in the California desert, Swiatek lost to Sakkari in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open. At the Australian Open, eventual champion Elena Rybakina ended her run.

The first few days weren’t very smooth, but then I felt solid again, just being myself. Most of the training sessions were good, but I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular, because in the end, it’s just training. If you feel amazing in training and then something doesn’t go as planned in a match, it feels even worse. I prefer to take it easy, not have any expectations after training, work hard, and then be ready for the matches.

Iga Swiatek added

Muchova was on an eight-match winning streak, as, after defeating Victoria Mboko in the Doha final, she skipped the Dubai Tennis Championships. The Doha win was Muchova’s career’s first Big Title.

Iga Swiatek on why she missed the Dubai Tennis Championships

Iga Swiatek wants to be flexible when it comes to her schedule. In the previous two seasons, she featured in both the Doha and Dubai WTA 1000 events, but this time, she skipped the latter event and instead went to Warsaw for a training block. Without paying heed to the mandatory status of the Dubai event, she chose to have a week to prepare well for the first Sunshine Doubles event.

So I think we need to sometimes react to what we need at this particular moment, regardless of the past results or the history of some tournaments. So, yeah, I felt like I needed some time on the practice court also. Remember that Australia was pushed, so we got one week less between the tournaments to practice. Yeah, I felt like I could do this grind and really, like, solid work training block in Warsaw.

Iga Swiatek said at the press conference after her third-round win

She will next be locking horns with Elina Svitolina, who received a walkover from Katerina Siniakova. The former World No.1 holds a 4-1 head-to-head lead over the Ukrainian ace, last defeating her in the quarterfinals of last year’s Roland Garros.

Svitolina, a four-time WTA 1000 champion, arrived in Indian Wells after losing the Dubai Open final to Jessica Pegula. The 31-year-old is enjoying good form as she also reached her career’s first semifinal at the Australian Open and won her 24th tour-level title at this year’s ASB Classic by defeating Wang Xinyu.

Swiatek, on the other hand, is an 11-time champion in WTA 1000 events, last winning it at the 2025 Cincinnati Open by defeating Jasmine Paolini. She won three titles from four finals last year, including Wimbledon, and has yet to win a Big Title since the Cincinnati event. The 24-year-old, in fact, has not won a title since the 2025 Korea Open.

Also read: Victoria Mboko Shares Honest Feelings After Debuting as a Top 10 Player in Indian Wells

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