INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Top-ranked Iga Swiatek moved on at the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over power-hitting Danielle Collins on Friday.
Swiatek improved to 15-2 this season and earned her fifth straight win over the 30-year-old American, who previously announced that she intends to retire after the season.
The two met in January in the second round of the Australian Open, with Swiatek winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
This one was much easier.
Swiatek, a four-time major champion, won 71.1% of her first-serve points, compared with Collins’ 50%. Collins did herself no favors with unforced errors and seven double faults.
Swiatek will face Linda Noskova. The 19-year-old Noskova beat Swiatek in the third round at Melbourne Park.
In other women’s action, Angelique Kerber battled back to beat Jelena Ostapenko 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in a matchup of former Grand Slam champions. It was similar to Kerber’s three-set win in Cincinnati in 2021 before she became a mother and returned to action this year.
Kerber, who reached the Indian Wells final in 2019, is a three-time Grand Slam titlist.
On the men’s side, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis to extend his winning streak to 16 matches. The third-ranked Sinner won 74.5% of his service points to run his all-time record against Kokkinakis to 4-0.
Despite winning 26 of his past 27 matches, Sinner insisted he is not invincible.
“I’m not unbeatable, I’m just well-prepared,” he told reporters. “I worked really hard to be in this position. Obviously it’s a position you dream of because winning a Grand Slam, that’s everyone’s dream, but you travel here, the conditions are different and then you have to find a way somehow.”
Andrey Rublev defeated Andy Murray 7-6 (3), 6-1, while Alejandro Tabilo, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur also won in straight sets.
Rublev piled up errors in the opening set and was forced to save four set points while his opponent enjoyed the support of the Stadium 2 crowd.
But Rublev found his range with the forehand to roll through the second set and secure the win. He will meet No. 32 seed Jiri Lehecka in the third round.
“He had a lot of chances in the first set and I was lucky to win. Had I lost it, it would have been really, really tough,” Rublev said. “After the first set, I felt more confidence and I knew that it would be even tougher for Andy to keep up his consistency.”
No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz overcame a sluggish start to dispatch Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-1 to get his hopes of a title defense in the California desert off to a winning start.
The Spaniard, who did not drop a set en route to the Indian Wells title a year ago, dumped a backhand into the net to hand the first set to a fired-up Arnaldi under the lights on center court.
Alcaraz soon found his rhythm, however, playing the powerful and creative tennis that has made him a two-time Grand Slam champion and fan favorite.
“I was nervous in the first set,” Alcaraz said. “That makes me at some points move different or with less energy. But in the second and the third sets it was totally different.”
“My good game comes out when my energy is so high,” he added.
American Ben Shelton came from behind to score a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over the Czech Republic’s Jakub Mensik in other men’s second-round action.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
