Twice champion Iga Swiatek walloped Czech Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-1 to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals on Tuesday.
For Swiatek, the win continued her relentless march through the California desert tournament where the Polish second seed has dropped just six games in her three matches.
After waiting through a rain delay, Swiatek took immediate hold of the momentum, sprinting through the first four games and not dropping a first-serve point in the opening set.
Muchova, who enjoyed an inspired run to the U.S. Open semifinal last year after recovering from wrist surgery, was unable to find her level in the second set as the mistakes piled up.
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Second seed Swiatek closed it out in 57 minutes with an unreturnable serve to set up a meeting with either Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China or Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.
“From the beginning, I felt like, you know, I can lead and I didn’t make many mistakes at the beginning, so then later on I just didn’t want to let Karo … be able to start playing her game,” Swiatek told reporters. “I’m happy I did that till the end.”
Ukrainian 23rd seed Elina Svitolina forced a third set against fourth seed Jessica Pegula and led the decider 1-0 before play was suspended due to rain.
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