INDIAN WELLS, United States, March 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Defending champion
Iga Swiatek powered into the Indian Wells quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-1
victory over Karolina Muchova on Tuesday, beating the rain that played havoc
with many of the day's matches.

The world number two from Poland needed just 57 minutes to put away Muchova,
who took her to three sets in the 2023 French Open final.

Swiatek, the 2022 and 2024 winner, didn't face a break point as she continued
her bid to become the first woman to win three titles in the California
desert.

She said the showers that delayed her match by 55 minutes were an extra spur
to finish it quickly, especially after the rain came again near the end of
the contest.

"On last two games, it was a bit slippery already, but I really wanted to
finish," she said. "So I kind of played more risky, but the shots were still
in."

"I'm happy that I closed it, for sure, because I knew this big cloud is
coming," she said.

And it did, as off-and-on showers caused multiple delays, the longest lasting
more than three hours.

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, ranked 23rd, shrugged off the long wait at the
start of the third set to upset world number four Jessica Pegula 5-7, 6-1, 6-
2.

"Definitely was not easy with all the conditions and the rain, stop and
start," Svitolina said. "Warmed up maybe like 10 times today.

"But everyone is in the same conditions. You just have to adjust and go
again."

Svitolina booked a meeting with 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva, who beat
former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-2.

Andreeva has now won two straight matches against world number seven
Rybakina, including a semi-final triumph in Dubai last month where she went
on to become the youngest ever WTA 1000 champion.

The delays meant world number six Daniil Medvedev's night match against
American Tommy Paul didn't get on court until after 10pm -- about the same
time that China's Zheng Qinwen faced Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk in the final
women's match of the day.

Medvedev took on American Tommy Paul in a rematch of their semi-final last
year, won by the Russian to reach his second straight Indian Wells final. He
lost to Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in both.

- Mentally very good -

The winner of that match will play France's Arthur Fils, who waited out the
long delay in the first set to post a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over American Marcos
Giron.

A brief morning shower was barely a blip for Denmark's Holger Rune in a 6-4,
6-4 victory over in-form Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas was coming off his first title in nearly a year in Dubai last
month, but Rune, ranked 13th, snapped the world number nine's seven-match ATP
win streak with an aggressive game that included 22 winners.

Up 4-3 in the second set, Rune saved a break point with a dazzling between-
the-legs shot, racing back to the baseline after a Tsitsipas lob and batting
the tweener that dropped perfectly to deny the Greek.

"Mentally, I was very, very good," Rune said. "I think that's what made the
difference -- how composed I was able to stay."

Rune next faces 43rd-ranked Tallon Griekspoor, who upset top seed Alexander
Zverev in the second round.

Griekspoor also made a belated start and waited out a second-set delay in his
7-6 (7/4) 6-1 victory over Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki.