Iga Swiatek. Taya Gray/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Iga Swiatek eclipses longstanding Serena Williams record

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Mar 12, 2025 8:34 AM ET

Iga Swiatek has been a hallmark of consistency in women's tennis over the last few years, and all her winning is starting to pay dividends.

With a dominant 6-1, 6-1 win over Karolina Muchova at Indian Wells on Monday, Swiatek reached the quarterfinal of a WTA-1000 event for the 21st time in her career. She now boasts of a 61.8 percent rate of reaching the final eight at such events, surpassing Serena Williams' mark of 61.2 percent.

61.8% - Iga Swiatek has become the player with the highest percentage of QFs reached in WTA-1000 events (61.8%, 21/34) since the format’s introduction in 2009, surpassing Serena Williams (61.2%, 30/49) - min. 2 events. Top.#TennisParadise | @BNPPARIBASOPEN @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/lH4U6diZG3
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) March 11, 2025

Williams, who retired in 2022, last advanced to the latter stages of a WTA-1000 event when she reached the final of the 2019 Canadian Open. She last won a WTA-1000 event at the 2016 Italian Open. The American legend captured 23 WTA-1000 titles to go with 23 majors.

Swiatek, 23, is unlikely to match Williams' historic feats, but her six-year pro resume is as good as anyone in tennis history. She has already captured 10 WTA-1000, five WTA-500 and five major titles.

The World No. 2 is trying to go back-to-back at Indian Wells after beating Maria Sakkari for last year's crown. Since 1989, she boasts the third-best winning percentage at the sunny California venue, trailing only Monica Seles and Steffi Graff.

30 - Since 1989, only Monica Seles and Steffi Graf (33 each) secured 30 combined wins in fewer matches in Indian Wells and Miami than Iga Swiatek (34, equalling Chris Evert and Venus Williams). Sunshine.#TennisParadise | @BNPPARIBASOPEN @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/MI8IrTSWlq
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) March 11, 2025

Swiatek will face No. 9 Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinal on Wednesday. It will be a rematch of the 2024 Paris Olympics semifinal, which the Chinese star won. Swiatek still has fresh memories from the last loss.

"I need to learn from our last match and also see how she plays right now because it's been a while since we played," Swiatek said ahead of the match via FootBoom.

Swiatek is eyeing her first title of the year after losing to Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva in the QF at Dubai, Jelena Ostapenko in the SF at Qatar and Madison Keys in the SF of the Australian Open.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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