Facing Iga Swiatek in the first round of a tournament? Good luck to you.

The six-time major champion has now won each of her last 73 opening-round matches on tour, including 33 at the WTA 1000 level, after defeating American qualifier Kayla Day, 6-0, 7-6(2) on Saturday afternoon in Stadium 2.

It wasn’t always perfect, but Swiatek’s 23rd career Indian Wells win was more than good enough to place her in the third round, where a rematch of the 2022 and 2024 women’s singles finals with Maria Sakkari awaits.

Rematch with Sakkari

Two-time champion Swiatek cruised through both of those finals, dropping just nine total games in the four sets played, but she was upended by Sakkari in the pair’s most recent meeting in Doha (2-6, 6-4, 7-5).

Sakkari, who defeated Austrian wild card Lilli Tagger, 7-5, 6-0, has split her eight career meetings with Swiatek in a head-to-head that dates back to 2021.

Credit Day, who reached the third round here as a 17-year-old in 2017, for her effort.

After dropping the first six games to Swiatek, she secured a break in the opening game of the second set and eventually stretched her lead to 5-1. Swiatek responded like the champion she is, rallying from 5-1 to 5-all and running away with the tiebreak moments later to improve to 23-3 overall in the California desert.

Rybakina Runs Down Baptiste

Twenty-four-year-old Hailey Baptiste’s bid to reach the third round at Indian Wells for the first time was thwarted by 2023 champion Elena Rybakina in Stadium 1, as the two-time major champion saved three set points to win the opening set and eventually closed out the D.C. native, 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-2.

No. 3 seed Rybakina will face either Taylor Townsend or Marta Kostyuk in the third round.

If the seeds hold, she would meet Swiatek in the semifinals.

In other early action on a jam-packed Saturday schedule, No. 13 seed Karolina Muchova defeated Anna Bondar, 7-5, 6-2, No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic toppled Aussie qualifier Storm Hunter, 6-3, 6-2, and former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko got past American wild card Katie Volynets, 6-4, 7-6(5).