Champions were declared on Sunday for the first ATP and WTA 1000 series events of 2022. In the women’s final of Indian Wells, 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek of Warsaw, Poland defeated Maria Sakkari of Athens, Greece 6-4, 6-1. Then in the men’s final, Taylor Fritz of the United States overcame a sore ankle to beat Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3, 7-6.
In the women’s final, Swiatek, the event’s number three seed, put together a dominant performance. She won 70% of her second serve points, while Sakkari only won 28% of her second serve points. Sakkari meanwhile only won two games the entire match while serving.
This was Swiatek’s fifth career WTA title. In addition to the French Open, she won the 2021 Adelaide International, the 2021 Italian Open, and the 2022 Qatar Open. Her titles in Italy over Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the final in Rome, and her win over Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the final in Doha, were also WTA 1000 series events. Like her performance on Sunday in Indian Wells, Swiatek was dominant. She double bageled Pliskova and only lost two games the entire match to Kontaveit.
In the men’s tournament at Indian Wells, Fritz won the biggest tournament of his career, and his second ATP title. He previously beat fellow American Sam Querrey, 6-3, 6-4, in the final of Eastbourne, in 2019. In addition to upsetting Nadal in the final, Querrey upset Andrey Rublev of Spain 7-5, 6-4 in the men’s semifinal. Fritz becomes the first American man to win at Indian Wells since Andre Agassi of Las Vegas beat Pete Sampras of Lake Sherwood California, in the 2001 final, 7-6, 7-5, 6-1.
