Indian Wells Open: Coco Gauff advances, Iga Swiatek secures a semi-final berth, while Wozniacki retires hurt

Iga Swiatek, the top seed in the world, was just getting started when Caroline Wozniacki had to withdraw from their quarterfinal match due to a foot injury on Thursday, putting her in the Indian Wells semifinals.

In the fascinating encounter between the current and previous world champions, Wozniacki, 33, jumped off to an early 4-1 lead.

After receiving treatment for what seemed to be a blister on her right foot at the conclusion of the first set, 22-year-old Swiatek regained her range and won six consecutive games. She also took a 1-0 lead in the second set. Wozniacki then put a stop to the match.

The winner of the 2022 Indian Wells tournament, Swiatek, secured a semi-final match against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, who defeated Anastasia Potapova of Russia 6-0, 7-5.

After defeating China’s Yuan Yue 6-4, 6-3, US Open winner Coco Gauff advanced to the Indian Wells semifinals for the first time.

In their second meeting, Swiatek described how she defeated Wozniacki as a “sad” method.

The first occurred in 2019, which was five months before Wozniacki’s retirement and seven months after Swiatek made her WTA main draw debut.

After making a comeback to the circuit last season, Wozniacki, a mother of two, got off to a quick start in her quest for her first victory against the current world number one since she defeated Simona Halep to win the 2018 Australian Open.

But Swiatek, who took first place in Doha last month before falling in the semifinals in Dubai, started to get into her rhythm and ended the first set with an ace.

Regarding her early difficulties, Swiatek said, “I just wanted to hit the ball more clean, honestly, because it wasn’t easy.” “She’s applying pressure to the opposition with her defense, but I had plenty of opportunities.” You’re playing everywhere—forehand, backhand, etc.

She’s giving everything back and jogging a lot. As a result, I sometimes made blunders that prevented me from fully finishing the rally.

“I really simply wanted to try to be more steady, patient, and quiet. I felt like I could take it farther in the second set and even tried to influence a few things, but I was unable to do so.

Gauff remains attached.

On the other hand, Kostyuk had a fast start and defeated Potapova’s attempt at a comeback to go to her first-ever 1000-level semi-final.

Kostyuk breezed through the first set in only 22 minutes as he adjusted to the windy circumstances.

It seemed like the second set would go similarly, as Kostyuk jumped to a 3-0 lead before Potapova pulled off a victory.

After that, she broke Kostyuk to get the game back on track, and all of a sudden, Kostyuk was engaged in combat.

At last, she completed the match with a last break of service, moving forward after Potapova’s forehand found the net on her opponent’s second match point.

After Serena Williams in 2001, Gauff, who turned 20 on Wednesday, became the youngest American woman to go to the Indian Wells semifinals.

In the second set, Gauff rallied from a 3-1 disadvantage to finish off the match against world number 49, who had won her maiden WTA championship in Austin two weeks before. Despite 17 double faults, Gauff broke Yuan’s service five times.

Gauff will play either fellow American Emma Navarro or ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece, the 2022 runner-up, in Friday’s semifinals.