Two-time champion Swiatek deals with Zheng and the wind to reach semi-finals in Indian Wells

Iga Swiatek took another step toward becoming the first woman to win the BNP Paribas Open three times as she fought off China’s Qinwen Zheng, wind and even a bit of rain to beat the No 8 seed 6-3, 6-3 and take her place in the semi-finals in Indian Wells on Thursday.

The second seed stormed ahead 5-1 in each set and though Zheng recovered slightly both times, the Pole was too good and too determined as she set up a clash with either Russian Mirra Andreeva, the No 9 seed, or Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the No 23 seed.

Swiatek is through to the last four having lost just 12 games, the first person to do that since Novak Djokovic in 2011.

“At the end, it got really windy, which made it super tricky,” said Swiatek, who has not won a tournament since winning her fourth Roland-Garros title last June.

“I’m happy that I was able to keep pushing til the end. It was a weird match with all the stops and everything but I wanted to stay focused and I was.”

Revenge for Olympic semi-final defeat

Zheng beat Swiatek in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games, which was also held at Roland-Garros last summer, but the Pole never looked like letting it happen again.

The match began with rain in the air and was stopped briefly, before the sun came out and Swiatek, so at home on the slow hard courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, took control.

Having led 5-1, Swiatek gave one of the breaks back but broke again to take the opening set and then, as she had done in the first set, broke the Zheng serve from 40-0 down to take an early lead in the second.

The result was never in doubt after that as Swiatek stormed to a 5-1 lead again and though Zheng did break once, two double faults handed the Pole another break and the match.

Swiatek has now won 20 straight sets in Indian Wells and is through to the last four again, having beaten Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia (6-2, 6-0), Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska (6-0, 6-2) and No 15 seed Karolina Muchova (6-1, 6-1) ahead of her victory on Thursday.

Zheng, ranked No 9, beat Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (6-3, 6-4), New Zealander Lulu Sun (6-4, 7-5) and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No 18 seed (6-3, 6-2).

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other last eight results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Belinda Bencic vs. Madison Keys
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Elina Svitolina