Iga Swiatek vs Elena Rybakina Prediction: Can Iga draw revenge for Australian Open loss?

The Professional tennis scene is a non-stop train and each week we witness a high-profile tournament. Grand Slams hold a lot of value but there are various other tournaments where the deck is as stacked. One of those tournaments is the Indian Wells Masters. In this game of the tournament, Iga Swiatek is going to take on Elena Rybakina.

Swiatek completed yet another dominant win in the previous round, defeating Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-3. Iga had a 65% first serve and an impressive 71% win on the first serve. Thus, Swiatek drew a 33-24 service points edge while also being dominant in her return game, eking out a 27-19 receiving points advantage. Swiatek is yet to drop a set in the tournament and except for one instance against Bianca Andreescu, she hasn’t dropped more than three games. Swiatek has made it a habit of making deep runs like this and will be in the hunt for yet another title in an already swelling trophy case.

Rybakina comes into the contest after a grueling 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 win against Karolina Muchova. Elena was in her usual aggressive self, munching down 6 Aces but also committed six double-faults in that process. The Kazakh Star had just a two points advantage in receiving points, having a 39-37 edge whereas she was also edged out(barely) in terms of service points with Muchova having a 69-67 edge. Rybakina had a grueling battle to start the tournament against Sofia Kenin and also faced a huge challenge against Karolina so her road has been tricky. 

Elena and Iga have met twice and the h2h is tied to one each. They last met during the Australian Open and Elena got the better of Iga there.

Iga and Elena both are power hitters and their return game has been also on-point. The last time they met, Elena overpowered Iga which doesn’t happen often. Iga will be on the hunt for revenge but I believe it won’t be an easy match for her and this can likely go to three sets with Iga prevailing by the end of it.