WTA Indian Wells 2025

And here’s proof.

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The doubles draw certainty didn’t fall the same way. All-unseeded final.

Muhammad/Schuurs v. Mihalikova/Nicholls. Hey, there’s a Brit!
 
robyrolfo said:
Wow, really surprised that Bencic got beaten so badly by Keys. I know Madison is on a big run, but maybe there is some matchup problem to make it so one-sided?


Zero sportsmanship.

See above. There is a reason nobody likes Zheng.


She was her usual self, chasing everything down and trying to force her opponent to eventually miss. Threw in a few big serves (and just as many DF's), and only got somewhat aggressive at times with her backhand.

She clearly still lacks confidence in her forehand. Whenever it mattered, she was tentative and either hitting slow, high loopy balls, or taking all the speed off and barely clearing the net. So yes, in that sense she was passive on that wing.
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I noticed she also starts slicing her FHs too. This tentative ultra conservative mentality has to stop in matches decided by one break or final set TBs.
I'm not sure how she can overcome this lack of aggression and confidence in her FH apart from taking six months off. She certainly has the money to do that.
 
Keys winning this will do wonders for her US Open run. No matter if Mirra comes to the final, she has a very tough task as both Aryna and Madison are power hitters and can blow her off the court. The same for Iga too.
 
All 4 are playing well. Keys had a bit of a dip against Vekic, but bounced back big time to thrash Bencic. I honestly have no idea who is winning this tournament, I could see any of the 4 doing it and the final being any combination of the 4. I feel like Swiatek may have a slight edge simply because she seems to do VERY well at this tournament, but all that pressure to win a 3rd IW could work against her.

Gonna be interesting.
 
You rarely get an event in which the four players playing the best over the season and playing extremely well in the tournament itself meet.

Sabalenka: #1 player, AO finalist, no lost sets only lost 20 games and broken only 4 times at IW

Iga: #2 player No lost sets, only lost 12 games and only broken 3 times in tournament

Keys: AO champion, won 16 in a row, won some tough matches but then destroyed Bencic who has been playing really well

Andeeva: Might be playing better than anyone, has won 10 straight matches, has won 11 straight sets, lost no sets at IW, lost 23 games and broken 6 times.

The finals could be any combination, but I think it will be Sabalenka and Iga; Keys’ streak has to end sometime as does Andeeva’s. It’s difficult to beat good players twice in a row in a short period of time though Andreeva just did with Clauson who has been playing well.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
US Open champ v Aus Open champ - which is also a rematch of that Aus Open final from 1.5 months ago
Dubai champ v French Open champ - which is a rematch of the Dubai QF which obviously Andreeva won
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I would love to see Andreeva beat Swiatek. Absolutely love it... but I'm not sure she can do it here at IW.

As for Sabs vs Keys, I'm honestly happy either way. Or perhaps I'm pulling a little bit more for Maddy, because she is just so likable and such a good story.

tx10is said:
yeah you got the 2 hottest players right now with keys and mirra vs the #1&#2 seed. I'd say the draw worked out alright for the wta here.
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Yes, but let's hope the matches are actually good. See below...

a10best said:
I noticed she also starts slicing her FHs too. This tentative ultra conservative mentality has to stop in matches decided by one break or final set TBs.
I'm not sure how she can overcome this lack of aggression and confidence in her FH apart from taking six months off. She certainly has the money to do that.
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Yep, was going to mention her randomly slicing some forehands in the middle of rallies.

In my opinion it is definitely a confidence thing, but I have no idea how she can rectify it at this point. She's been on the tour for years now, and so it must be deeply ingrained mentally.

ghostofMecir said:
You rarely get an event in which the four players playing the best over the season and playing extremely well in the tournament itself meet.
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Yes, but we were all getting excited about some of the round of 16 matches, and they were all pretty dull. Then the quarters looked really good, and they were all super boring...

So let's hope that we actually get a good match here among these enticing matchups on paper. I feel like the men's side has been super boring this year as well, and the tournament overall has been lifeless so far.
 
robyrolfo said:
Yep, was going to mention her randomly slicing some forehands in the middle of rallies.

In my opinion it is definitely a confidence thing, but I have no idea how she can rectify it at this point. She's been on the tour for years now, and so it must be deeply ingrained mentally.
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Sabalenka had the yips on her serve a few yrs ago and rectified that.
Gauff is top 5 with these flaws. If she works on the serve & tentativeness she should win more titles.
We're a bit spoiled from the Wms sister's results from aggressive play and serving. Sabs adopted that style along with Iga.
 
a10best said:
I noticed she also starts slicing her FHs too. This tentative ultra conservative mentality has to stop in matches decided by one break or final set TBs.
I'm not sure how she can overcome this lack of aggression and confidence in her FH apart from taking six months off. She certainly has the money to do that.
Click to expand...
I think she just surprised everyone including herself when she won Dubai, but I don't see anything special in her to continue to beat the Keys(post choke overcome), Aryna, Mirra, Iga.
 
tennis24x7 said:
I think she just surprised everyone including herself when she won Dubai, but I don't see anything special in her to continue to beat the Keys(post choke overcome), Aryna, Mirra, Iga.
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I wasn't discussing Mirra. Although she does do that to a lesser extent.
 
a10best said:
Sabalenka had the yips on her serve a few yrs ago and rectified that.
Gauff is top 5 with these flaws. If she works on the serve & tentativeness she should win more titles.
We're a bit spoiled from the Wms sister's results from aggressive play and serving. Sabs adopted that style along with Iga.
Click to expand...
She has gotten to be in the top 5 by consistently beating lower ranked players, more often than not through her defense and athletic skills. In an era where most of the WTA players want to hit big and beat their opponents by hitting more winners, her defensive game is very well suited to those that can't sustain the pressure (it even cracked Sabalenka in that US Open final).

And let's have some perspective: she is in the top 5 in an era when Jasmine Paolini... I repeat JASMINE PAOLINI... was ranked as high as 4 in the world.

But yes, we were spoiled by the Williams sisters, and a lot of other very good or great players in past eras that could actually play nice tennis. Sure, Sabalenka and Swiatek (or sometimes Rybakina) bash the ball well enough to be effective most of the time, but it's hardly great tennis. Neither of them could tough Venus or Serena in their day, nor players like Henin and Hingis.
 
robyrolfo said:
She has gotten to be in the top 5 by consistently beating lower ranked players, more often than not through her defense and athletic skills. In an era where most of the WTA players want to hit big and beat their opponents by hitting more winners, her defensive game is very well suited to those that can't sustain the pressure (it even cracked Sabalenka in that US Open final).

And let's have some perspective: she is in the top 5 in an era when Jasmine Paolini... I repeat JASMINE PAOLINI... was ranked as high as 4 in the world.

But yes, we were spoiled by the Williams sisters, and a lot of other very good or great players in past eras that could actually play nice tennis. Sure, Sabalenka and Swiatek (or sometimes Rybakina) bash the ball well enough to be effective most of the time, but it's hardly great tennis. Neither of them could tough Venus or Serena in their day, nor players like Henin and Hingis.
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I know. era's have significance as to really how good you are. Paolini lol..
Clijsters says don't forget about me.
 
robyrolfo said:
She has gotten to be in the top 5 by consistently beating lower ranked players, more often than not through her defense and athletic skills. In an era where most of the WTA players want to hit big and beat their opponents by hitting more winners, her defensive game is very well suited to those that can't sustain the pressure (it even cracked Sabalenka in that US Open final).

And let's have some perspective: she is in the top 5 in an era when Jasmine Paolini... I repeat JASMINE PAOLINI... was ranked as high as 4 in the world.

But yes, we were spoiled by the Williams sisters, and a lot of other very good or great players in past eras that could actually play nice tennis. Sure, Sabalenka and Swiatek (or sometimes Rybakina) bash the ball well enough to be effective most of the time, but it's hardly great tennis. Neither of them could tough Venus or Serena in their day, nor players like Henin and Hingis.
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What?

Venus had a 3.5 year period where she was consistent. Wimbledon 2000 to Wimbledon 2003.

Otherwise her majors are full of QF exits and earlier.

This is the opposite of recency bias— remembering past players as much better than they were.

She was amazing when she was on. But that was frankly less than people remember.
 
My god Andreeva is clutch right now. From 0-30 down, two beautiful points and an ace to get to 40-30 to try to hold serve.

And she does

Tiebreak time.
 
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