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Perfection. Everybody strives for it, however only a few can truly obtain it.
(And that’s okay, you don’t have to be good on a regular basis).
In Indian Wells, a pair of former French Open champions had been seeking to maintain good streaks alive on finals Sunday, however just one was capable of pull it off.
We’re already midway by way of the Sunshine Double with Miami across the nook, however earlier than the excursions transfer from one coast to the opposite, here’s what you must know.
In Case You Missed It: Iga retains rolling, Fritz stuns Rafa
When Iga Świątek powered her approach to the French Open title in 2020 and adopted it up with a WTA 1000 win on clay in Rome in 2021, by no means a lot as reaching a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 quarter-final off of the dust in her first three years on tour after debuting in 2019, it might be an comprehensible assumption that the younger Pole is a clay court docket specialist.
10 weeks into 2022 and he or she has shortly put that to mattress.
By two WTA 1000 occasions this 12 months, each on exhausting courts, Świątek is undefeated at that stage, backing up her February victory in Doha with a second 1000-level title in a row in Indian Wells.
The 20-year-old hardly did it the simple method, having to return again after dropping the primary set in every of her first three matches. However as soon as she discovered her kind, she was inconceivable to cease, beating Madison Keys (solely dropping one recreation), Simona Halep and Maria Sakkari all in straight units to get her fingers on her the BNP Paribas Open trophy.
Her 6-4, 6-1 win over Sakkari within the title match was her fifth straight straight-sets win in a closing. Świątek misplaced her first profession closing in Lugano in 2019 and since has gained 5 in a row, all in straight units. The 5 video games the Pole misplaced within the Indian Wells closing tied for essentially the most video games she has misplaced in a closing over that span.
Świątek’s idol, Rafael Nadal, was additionally searching for a little bit of perfection of his personal, attempting to maintain his unbeaten general begin to 2022 alive as he entered the occasion 15-0 on the season.
Like Świątek, Nadal lived dangerously all through the week, needing three units to beat Sebastian Korda in spherical two earlier than surviving slender three-set battles with Nick Kyrgios and his protégé Carlos Alcaraz in a generational conflict semi-final battle simply to achieve the title match.
After stretching his career-best begin to 20-0, Nadal lastly suffered his first defeat of the 12 months within the closing, the place he was upset by American Taylor Fritz in straight units.
The title in Indian Wells is simply the second of Fritz’s profession and by far the most important, along with his solely different win coming on the 250 occasion in Eastbourne in 2019. He’s additionally the primary American man to win the singles title in Indian Wells since Andre Agassi beat Pete Sampras in 2001.
In singles, it was not the very best week for the Canadians. Leylah Annie Fernandez was the final one standing, reaching the spherical of sixteen for the second 12 months in a row the place she misplaced in two tight units to defending champion Paula Badosa.
Denis Shapovalov bowed out within the third spherical, dropping to Reilly Opelka, whereas Félix Auger-Aliassime by no means received on the board, dropping his opening match to Botic van de Zandschulp.
Nonetheless, there was one thing to cheer about within the ladies’s doubles as Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski got here inside a spherical of establishing an All-Canadian closing.
Each ladies reached the semi-finals of the ladies’s doubles with their respective companions, Fernandez and Alize Cornet, Dabrowski with common 2022 accomplice Giuliana Olmos.
Alas, neither pair was capable of advance to the title match. Dabrowski and Olmos got here shut, falling in a match tiebreak to seventh seeds Asian Muhammad and Ena Shibahara, whereas Fernandez and Cornet misplaced in straight units to eventual champions Yifan Xu and Zhaoxuan Yang.
What to Watch: Make it Two in Miami
Half two of the Sunshine Doubles begins this week with the Miami Open.
Świątek will look to grow to be the primary girl since Victoria Azarenka in 2016 to win Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back in the identical season and the primary girl to win the primary three WTA 1000 (or equal) tournaments of the season for the reason that stage was created in 1990.
Regardless of having leapfrogged Aryna Sabalenka within the rankings as much as a career-high of No. 2, the Pole will likely be seeded second behind Sabalenka, because the seedings had been made earlier than right this moment’s rankings replace.
Neither of the 2021 ladies’s finalists will likely be competing in 2022. Two-time defending champion and world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and 2021 runner-up Bianca Andreescu are each passing on the occasion.
Total, eight of the Prime 10 on the ladies’s facet are competing, the absences being Barty and Barbora Krejcikova.
Fernandez is the lone Canadian girl with direct entry to the primary draw, seeded 18th. After a bye, she’s going to open her event towards a Czech opponent, both Karolina Muchova or Tereza Martincova.
Spherical three will seemingly see Fernandez have a rematch from her 2021 US Open run, as she may face both 13th seed Angelique Kerber or Naomi Osaka, each of whom the Canadian beat in New York.
Within the fourth spherical, Fernandez may meet third seed Anett Kontaveit.
Rebecca Marino may be a part of Fernandez in the primary draw if she will get by way of qualifying.
The lads’s draw is much stronger than the depleted area that confirmed up in 2021, though there are nonetheless notable absences, together with the highest participant in 2022 Nadal, who’s taking some relaxation earlier than the clay season, and newly re-ascended world No. 1 Novak Djokovic because of COVID-19 restrictions.
In consequence, Daniil Medvedev will as soon as once more be the highest seed this week. Hubert Hurkacz is the defending champion and is seeded eighth. Indian Wells champion Fritz is seeded 11th.
Two Canadian males, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov, are seeded. Due to Nadal and Djokovic’s absences, Auger-Aliassime will likely be a top-eight seed at a Masters 1000 occasion for the primary time this week, seeded seventh.
As seeds, each males have first-round byes. Shapovalov has a brutal draw, as he may open towards Lloyd Harris, who beat him twice in 2021. The Canadian’s first seeded opponent could possibly be Dan Evans, who gained their assembly earlier this 12 months on the ATP Cup. He’s in the identical part because the defending champion Hurkacz and identical quarter as prime seed Medvedev.
Auger-Aliassime’s draw is a bit higher, as he’ll open towards both a qualifier or Miomir Kecmanovic. His first potential seeded opponent is No. 32 Albert Ramos-Vinolas, however a date with Indian Wells champion Fritz looms within the spherical of 16. The Canadian No. 1’s potential quarter-final opponent is Stefanos Tsitsipas, though the Greek must take care of the in-form Alcaraz to get to the final eight.
Each Canadian males are within the prime half of the draw, that means they might doubtlessly meet within the semis.
Vasek Pospisil will look to make it three Canadian males in the primary draw as he’s competing in qualifying.
In doubles, Dabrowski and Olmos will look to go a step farther than they did a 12 months in the past in Miami, the place they reached the semi-finals. Final 12 months they had been unseeded, this time they’re No. 6.
Below the Radar:
Final week was comparatively quiet for the Canadians on the Challenger tour and ITF circuits.
The motion picks up this week with three members of Canada’s Davis Cup staff competing in three totally different ATP Challenger occasions.
Alexis Galarneau and Brayden Schnur are in Europe competing in France and Switzerland respectively, whereas Steven Diez is entered in an occasion in Bolivia.
You possibly can observe the Canadians in motion each week here.
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