Indian Wells: Swiatek dig deep, moves past Linda Noskovato to reach round 16

Iga Swiatek who lost to Linda Noskova in the same round at January’s Australian Open was heading for a surprise exit again after a 4-2 first-set lead by her teenage opponent before overturning the game to reach the last 16.

The World No.1 and top seed won 10 in a row to surge past Czech’s Linda Noskova 6-4, 6-0 and book a spot in the fourth round in Indian Wells for the fourth time.

“I made some mistakes at the beginning. I tried to maybe play to finish the rallies too early,” Swiatek said afterwards. “But I knew that if I’m going to try to stay consistent and make a little bit less mistakes, my chances may come. So for sure wasn’t comfortable, but I was ready to break back.

“I had to kind of change some negative thoughts that I had into just thinking that I wasn’t thinking about just waiting for my chances. I knew that I’m experienced enough to just, you know, hold it together and not really let myself let these negative thoughts win. So I just did that.

“I think my game clicked a little bit more. I tried not to make these mistakes from faster rallies that we had, but actually we had a little bit less rallies, longer rallies later. So I just wanted to be consistent and use my advantages in the way this court works with my game.”

Swiatek who has in fact never lost before the Round of 16 in Tennis Paradise: In her main-draw debut, she reached the fourth round before winning it all in 2022; last year, she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Elena Rybakina will next face unseeded Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, who toppled No.18 seed Madison Keys — who was making her season debut in Indian Wells after a shoulder injury forced her out of the Australian swing — 6-4, 6-1.