Iga Swiatek’s opening match at the BNP Paribas Open began and ended in typical Swiatek fashion, with the No. 2 player in the world on hot runs of consecutive games. This time, though, there was a hiccup that forced Swiatek into a long match.
Day, ranked just 187th in the world and assured of improving that number by reaching the second round in Indian Wells, had never played Swiatek and was perhaps nervous in being outplayed in a first set that lasted just 27 minutes. But Day rallied in the second set as Swiatek began struggling with her own serve and appeared frustrated when several line calls whet against her.
“I think for sure I drifted off a little bit for some games, and then I became tight because of that,” Swiatek said. “For sure I needed to get back to my first-set game.”
Swiatek was able to find her game against and ran off four consecutive games to get to 5-5 in the set, then splitting the next two games to get to a tiebreak that the Polish star again dominated.
“The end of the second set looked much different,” Swiatek said. “Yeah, I played with much more, you know, spin, confidence, and that’s why I could win these games in a row and get back to the match.”
Swiatek finished the match with just a 48.6 first-serve percentage, though she won 79.4 percent of those serves. Like other players throughout the day, Swiatek said her game was thrown off by the winds that hit the Tennis Gardern.
“There were some moments where the wind kind of surprised me,”she said. “But, yeah, it’s Indian Wells. It has always been like that. So we just need to adjust to what’s coming, and that’s it.”
Defending champ Andreeva returns with double bagel win
The 2025 BNP Paribas Open produced the biggest win of Mirra Andreeva’s career, a three-set win in the finals against Aryna Sabalenka to give Andreeva her first WTA 1000 title.
Andreeva returned to play in Indian Wells Saturday showing she is serious about defending that title, taking a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Argentina’s Solana Sierra on Stadium 2.
The match was never really that close, with Sierra winning just 18 percent of her first serve points in the match compared to 68 percent for Andreeva. While Sierra did manage to four four break points against Andreeva, the No. 8 seed defending champion saved all four of those points while breaking Sierra six times in nine break points.
Pegula rebounds from difficult start
American Jessica Pegula, the fifth seed in the women’s draw, recovered from an early stumble to beat Donna Vekic of Croatia, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, on Stadium Court to start the evening session.
Pegula reached the semifinals at the Australian Open before winning a title in Dubai prior to arriving at Indian Wells. She’s currently on a six-match win streak and is 14-2 this year.
Bencic, Muchova advance easily
A pair of players just outside the top 10 seeded had relatively easy times in their second-round matches Saturday in Indian Well.
Belinda Becic of Switzerland, seeded 12th, took on qualifier Storm Hunter of Australia and walked away with a 6-2, 6-3 win. While Bencic’s serve was broken twice in the match, Bencic broke Hunter’s serve six times, with Hunter winning just 31 percent of her second serves in the match.
It’s the fifth time Bencic has been to at least the third round in Indian Wells, including a run to the semifinals in 2019.
Karolina Muchova, the No. 13 seed, also had an easy time in her second-round match, beating Ana Bondar 7-5, 6-2. Bondar fought her serve in the match with four double faults and just a 51 percent success rate on her first serves.
For Muchova, the serve was stronger, winning 79 percent of her first serves and running away with the second set.
Muchova has only played in Indian Wells twice before, reaching the quarterfinals in 2023 and falling in the fourth round in 2025.
American Navarro falls early
Seeded 20th in this year’s BNP Paribas Open, American Emma Navarro was surely hoping for a better time in Indian Wells than she managed.
Navarro lost a third-set tiebreaker Saturday on the way to a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2) loss to Sonay Kartel of Great Britain on Stadium 4.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Swiatek rises, then falls, then rises again in win at BNP Paribas Open
Reporting by Larry Bohannan and Andrew John, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
