(Indian Wells) Stronger and more determined, in the wake of an excellent start to the year, Iga Swiatek won the WTA 1000 in Indian Wells for the first time in her career on Sunday, at the expense of the Greek Maria Sakkari, too timid for her first grand final.

The Pole won with authority 6-4, 6-1 in 1h20, at the end of a final, which was far from reaching the heights, the fault of a swirling wind which often disturbed the two players .

Swiatek, who was 4^and world before this tournament, will rise to the 2^and place on Monday, in place of the Czech Barbora Krejcikova, who, like Ashleigh Barty (N.1) winner of the Australian Open, was absent in California.

Revealed by her surprise victory at Roland-Garros in 2020, she won her fifth title on the women’s circuit at the age of 20, her second of the year after that gleaned at the end of February in Doha, where she had already dismissed Sakkari in passing. semi final. She is also unbeaten in 11 games.

For their reunion, almost a month later, in another desert setting, Swiatek confirmed the ascendancy taken over her 26-year-old rival, who had won their first three confrontations, but found herself there for the first time on the last step of a WTA 1000.

As the day before during the men’s semi-final won by the Spaniard Rafael Nadal against his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, the wind, although less powerful, terribly hampered the players on service (seven double faults each in total).

Sakkari 3^and

After four breaks to start, Swiatek was the first to win her bet to lead 3-2, taking the net from the fighting-ready Greek from the baseline.

But Sakkari, broken for the third time in a row, was able to come back up to his opponent, before finally winning his bet (4-4).

Swiatek recovered and was able to place a few sharp attacks, to steal Sakkari’s commitment for the fourth time and conclude 6-4 on her third opportunity.

The Pole, who succeeds the winners to the Spaniard Paula Badosa, further accelerated the pace in the second round. Much more solid in the service – she never left the slightest break point to the Greek – she escaped by delighting twice more that of Sakkari, who, contrary to his habits, gave up a little too fast.

She will, too, on Monday, climb the rankings, from 6^and at the 3^and square. What only Stefanos Tsitsipas managed to do in men last year, among his compatriots.

A position which testifies to his progress, after his semi-finals at Roland-Garros and the United States Open in 2021, but which still does not translate into a victory in a major tournament.

Her only title, the 26-year-old Athenian won on clay in Rabat in 2019, in five finals now.