INDIAN WELLS: Defending champion Iga Swiatek edged closer to an unprecedented third Indian Wells WTA title on Sunday, overwhelming Dayana Yastremska 6-0, 6-2 to reach the fourth round.

Swiatek`s 65-minute victory set the tone on a day that saw Daniil Medvedev spend just 10 minutes on court before ailing opponent Alex Michelsen retired.

Swiatek, the world number two from Poland, was in full control against hard-hitting Ukrainian Yastremska, swinging freely as she won the first 10 games.

She converted six of her 11 break chances and didn`t face a break point herself. It was all but over by the time Yastremska got on the board by winning her last two service games.

`It`s always hard to finish a matchlike that,` Swiatek said. `But Pm happy that I got my intensity up the last game and closed it with confidence.

Swiatek next faces Czech Karolina Muchova, who trailed 3-5 in the first set but won 10 of the next 11 games to beat compatriot Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 6-1.

Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and 2023 Indian Wells champion Elena Rybakina joined Swiatek in dishing out bagels as they lined up a fourth-round clash.

Andreeva, who triumphed in Dubai last month to become the youngest ever winner of a WTA 1000 event, needed 63 minutes to beat Denmark`s Clara Tauson 6-3, 6-0 in a rematch of the Dubai final.

Rybakina downed Britain`s Katie Boulter 6-0, 7-5.

Fourth seed Jessica Pegula of theUnited States, fresh off her first WTA title of the year in Austin, was another quick winner, putting away China`s Wang Xinyu 6-2, 6-1 in just 62 minutes.

Pegula next faces Ukraine`s Elina Svitolina, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Danielle Collins.

Medvedev headlined the men`s lineup in the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event, but he was barely under way when 20-year-old Michelsen retired because of illness after dropping the first two games.

`Food poisoning or something like this, these things happen,` said Medvedev, who was headed to the practice courts to tune up for a fourth-round clash with 10thseeded American Tommy Paul.

Paul beat Britain`s 2021 Indian Wells winner Cameron Norrie, nowranked 77th in the world, 6-3, 7-5.

Eighth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, coming off his first title in almost a year in Dubai, beat Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-3 in a rematch of their Dubai quarter-final last week.

Tsitsipas dropped just eight points on his serve as he wrongfooted the Italian with a variety of athletic shots, breaking him three times on the way to victory in 68 minutes.

After months in the doldrums Tsitsipas said he was relishing a new mental approach to the game.

`I just feel like I want to get out there on the court and be a gladiator, and that`s how I approach every single match I get to play,` he said.

Tallon Griekspoor, the world No.

43 from the Netherlands who shocked world number two and top seed Alexander Zverev in the sec-ond round, backed up his big win with a 7-6(7/3), 6-3 victory over France`s 29th seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Griekspoor needed an hour and 16 minutes to secure the win, but in a season in which dropping the first set has become an alarming habit that was fast enough.

`It feels nice to win a match in under one and a half hour,` he said.

Griekspoor next faces Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki, who hit 47 winners in his 6-4, 7-6(8/6) upset of 16th-seeded American Frances Tiafoe.

Ranked 349th in the world after missing more than six months last season with left knee tendinitis, Watanuki is the lowest-ranked player to reach the fourth round since 882nd-ranked Tommy Haas in 2004.-AFP