INDIAN WELLS: Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his Indian Wells crown with a 7-6(5), 6-1 win over Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday while world number one Iga Swiatek powered past Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0 to claim her second WTA title.

The win ends a title drought for the world number two that stretched back to last summer’s Wimbledon and makes him the first man to defend a championship in the California desert since Novak Djokovic won three straight between 2014-2016.

Alcaraz showed no ill effects from the ankle injury that forced him to withdraw from last month’s Rio Open but said it was on his mind coming into the event.

“Winning this tournament means a lot to me because the week before it began I had a lot of doubts about my ankle,” Alcaraz said.

“But once I stepped on the court for the first round it started to feel better and as I said after every match, I was feeling better and better. Really, really happy to be able to win this tournament again.”

In a rematch of last year’s final, Alcaraz started slow, spraying errors around the court to fall 3-0 down but raised his level to get back on serve and eventually force a tiebreak.

In the closely fought breaker, Alcaraz pounded a forehand that his Russian opponent could not redirect safely in bounds to hand Alcaraz the first set.

The Spaniard romped through the second set, raising his arms in the air and letting out a roar when Medvedev missed another forehand wide on match point.

Second seed Alcaraz smacked 25 winners to Medvedev’s 11 and was especially effective against his opponent’s second serves.

Medvedev, who briefly lost his temper with some fans in the Alcaraz-friendly crowd in the second set, was gracious in defeat.

“I’d like to congratulate Carlos,” Medvedev said during the trophy ceremony.

“It’s definitely your court, you like it here. Congrats to you and your team. You are doing a great job so continue this way and hopefully one day you can let me play a little bit better here,” he said.

Meanwhile, the rematch of the 2022 championship showdown produced an almost identical outcome, as four-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek dominated the second set to seize her 19th career title and her second of 2024.

Sakkari, ranked ninth in the world, battled gamely through the opening set, erasing a break and saving two break points in the final game before Swiatek delivered a blistering forehand winner to pocket the set after 44 minutes.

It would take just 24 more minutes for the Polish star to wrap things up.

She broke Sakkari at love for a 2-0 lead and rolled to the finish.

Swiatek, who continued her strong comeback from a third-round exit at the Australian Open in January, said her 12 days in the California desert weren’t as easy as her scorelines might suggest.

She lost just 21 games and didn’t drop a set.

“I’m really proud of myself,” she said. “Even though this tournament looked like, the scores, maybe I had everything under control, it wasn’t from the beginning to the end so easy. So I’m happy I could improve during the tournament.”

Swiatek became the 10th woman to win the Indian Wells title twice, joining Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters as the only players to notch two titles before turning 23.

On the other hand, Sakkari had managed to make the first set competitive but said that hanging with Swiatek in the rallies just wasn’t enough.

“You have to be ultra-aggressive playing her,” she said. “You also have to take every opportunity,” she added. “When you play Iga, (Aryna) Sabalenka, (Elena) Rybakina, all the players ... you have like two, three chances in the match and you have to take them. If you don’t take them, then it’s ‘ciao-ciao’ as I say.”

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024