Iga Swiatek's run of 73 consecutive WTA opening round matches ends with early Miami loss

Goodbye to this legendary stat it'll always be part of the sports history

Iga Świątek said she is in “the worst nightmare a tennis player can have” after one of the most absurd win-streaks in tennis ended with a shock defeat to compatriot Magda Linette at the Miami Open.

Linette, the world No. 50 snapped Świątek’s run of 73 consecutive opening-match wins, which dated back to 2021, in a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 result that left the six-time Grand Slam champion telling reporters that tennis “feels complicated in my head.”

“I’ve always been an over-thinker, but lately it’s just been so intense. It’s hard for me to get rid of many thoughts I have and this used to be my strength,” Świątek said.

It was March 2019, before Świątek had reached the world’s top 100, when she last lost a match having won the first set 6-0 or 6-1.

The defeat represents a low point in an up-and-down season for Świątek. Since hiring experienced Belgian coach Wim Fissette toward the end of the 2024 season, she has had mixed results as she works through finding the right balance between baseline patience and going for too much when under stress. The highlight was last summer’s Wimbledon title, but overall Świątek has struggled to find the form that made her such a dominant world No. 1 for the previous few years. Her ranking is now No. 3.

Świątek has frequently vented her frustration at her team, which includes long-term psychologist Daria Abramowicz. This dynamic was particularly apparent toward the end of last week’s quarterfinal defeat to Elina Svitolina at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif, which followed one of her best performances of the year: a suffocatingly restrained 6-2, 6-0 win over Karolína Muchová.

This loss to Linette did not follow a recent trend of Świątek imploding when things have gone against her, which has been worsened by the unreliability of her first serve. Against Linette, Świątek only dropped her serve twice, but made frequent return errors that prevented her from putting any pressure on her opponent, who won just two games in their last meeting.

Though the scoreline and the tennis did not show it, Świątek said she experienced the loss as a kind of collapse. Streaks, and the art of front-running, have been defining in her ascent to and stay at the top of the sport. She compiled the longest WTA win-streak of the 21st century in winning 37 matches in a row during 2022. Before a defeat to Maria Sakkari at this year’s Qatar Open, she had won 109 WTA 1000 matches in a row after winning the first set. Between 2022 and 2024, she compiled streaks of 44 and 56 matches in which she did not lose after winning the first set at any level.

“Unconsciously or consciously it’s hard for me to change things, and then my tennis kind of collapses. So I need to work now to get back from that, because for sure I haven’t felt things like that for like five years,” Świątek said.

“I’ve always had something that kept me figuring things out instead of dropping so much during matches. So I’ll just get back to work, try to get something positive out of the practices and some confidence back, and try to figure it out.”

Asked to describe her emotions, Świątek said: “I feel like I carry a lot of expectations, and I can’t really, like, fulfil them right now. I need to get rid of them, because my game hasn’t been good enough to have any expectations. I think I’m a bit confused, but there’s no way but forward, and I’m going to try to just work hard to get back from that. And I know I have it in me; I just lost it for a second: the game and the mentality that I should have on the court.”

Świątek, who during an interview in 2025 said that changes to her game are only “visible on a bigger horizon,” reiterated that sentiment in a segment of her post-match mixed zone reported by Bounces.

“You can’t do, like, one huge step and suddenly it’s not going to — there’s no magic solutions. So I guess you need to do it with small changes, but kind of consistently, and keep your discipline.

“And you know, there’s other stuff — I’ll honestly need time to like figure out and to answer some questions, and I’ll see.”

Świątek may benefit from an unexpectedly long break before the clay-court season, which is scheduled to begin for her at the Stuttgart Open in Germany in mid-April. At the Australian Open in January she spoke about the need to skip certain events to avoid physical and mental burnout, before withdrawing from last month’s Dubai Tennis Championships. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka withdrew from the same event, before its tournament director criticized both players for not attending.

Clay has tended to be Świątek’s strongest surface, with the French Open accounting for four of her six Grand Slams, though it has masked just how good — if less remarkable — her hard-court record is.

She still lost that sense of invincibility on the dirt last year, failing to win a title on the surface, and exiting the French Open at the semifinal stage in her first defeat at the tournament for four years.

Świątek will hope it can be a sanctuary this year, as she looks for solutions.

nytimes.com

Where to start really, tough tough times for Iga at the moment. 

Seems to have completely lost confidence and her candid comments in post match interviews while very much appreciated are also breaking my heart a bit. 

It's sad to see her so lost with virtually no idea what to do on court against an opponent she's normally take care of with ease. 

Obviously she's going to have to do a lot of soul searching, and make some hard decisions about where to go from here. 

Clearly something isn't working with comments like I haven't felt like this in 5 years in that candid interview with the Polish media. That screams alarm bells to me. 

There have been many rumors over the years regarding her sports psychologist and that Iga should think about giving her the boot. 

I've always held back from making too many comments about all that, but at this point it's become evident that whatever sports psychology was helping Iga before isn't helping her now. 

There's a lot of awkwardness, frustration and screaming coming from her box during matches from the psychologist more than her coach which is weird. 

I can't help but wonder if it's become more of a dependency thing for Iga than anything else. 

Watching her matches this year, it often looked like she wasn't listening to her coach (even when he was giving her good advice). 

And I don't know whether that's because Wim is very polite and his methods just don't break through the same way they did with Tomasz Wiktorowski, or if it's a language thing, where the messaging just doesn't come through as effectively.  

Or whether there's some sort of a weird power dynamic where the psychologist controls a lot of things within the team (and Wiktorowski was better at dealing with that, but had enough and left which was one of the many rumors also circulating). 

Having a travelling psychologist was a rarity and it undoubtedly give her an edge for many years, but something has definitely shifted and now it's become more of a deterrent. 

What's most important is that Iga needs a major change and fast whether that's changing someone within the team or maybe taking a break from the sport for a bit (something I doubt she'd be willing to do given how long it took her to skip 1 tournament until this year).

But whatever the change is it needs to happen soon, because at the moment I'm not even sure Iga is enjoying being out there playing. 

Might be that she's suffering from a bit of burn out who knows very hard to say, and only Iga knows the real reason. 

All I know for sure is that as a fan of Iga and tennis I very much hope she finds her way again. 

It'd be a huge shame to waste so much great (and still very much untapped) talent. 

Not to mention a huge loss for the sport itself. 

Tennis is better with Iga Swiatek's high level in the mix. 

So I hope she hangs in there, takes the time and finds some help to steer her in the right direction again. 

All the greats have been through similar situations and they've always found a way to comeback stronger.

I believe Iga will too.

I think above all I just want her to find joy again, so that we can share in it as well.

Iga Swiatek falls in Miami Quarterfinals to 19 year old wild card

 

Well this was unexpected to say the least especially after her match with Svitolina the other day. 

Every player has an off day and this was probably one of Iga's worst. 

Who knows maybe playing until midnight the day prior totally screwed up her sleep and routines (which is not uncommon and understandable). 

Whatever the reason this was definitely a case of Iga beating herself more than being beaten by her younger opponent.

19 unforced errors in the first set.

And did not hold serve once.

Quite a few forced errors with deep shots on the baseline from the youngster wild card Alexandra Eala. But Iga had plenty of breaks and break chances. 

Not being able to serve out the 2nd set at 4-2 and 5-4 is something she'll definitely have a lot of regrets about.

So for just the 3rd time in her young career Iga gets beaten by someone outside the top 100 (140 to be exact). That will probably sting a bit too. 

I've said this before but it's hard for her fans to reconcile this current level Iga's showing with the level we all know she's capable of. 

A level she herself set over the past 4 years so I can only imagine how Iga herself must be feeling being a perfectionist. 

I think at this point it's more mental than anything else honestly and a lack of belief and confidence. 

And if she is still thinking about losing the number 1 ranking and getting it back she definitely needs a different mind set because I doubt this sot of self imposed pressure is helping. 

On top of that dealing with things behind the scenes, the doping suspension, a new coach and the stalker harassing her during practice in Miami  is quite a lot to handle. 

I'm sure that's had an influence as well on many different levels.

It's all caused her to not feel any joy in her game at the moment I think. Just frustration and anger (which I thought had turned a corner in the Svitolina match) but today she showed it's still very much there.

She didn't seem to be listening to her coach who was actually giving her good instructions, and went on to mention to the Polish media that she actually doesn't like to be given constant point by point advice from the box. Which was very evident when she worked with Tomasz Wiktorowski. 

Although that might have been partially due to different coaching rules which were either none existent or limited at the time as opposed to now. So they definitely need to come to a consensus on that before the clay swing.

Maybe this early exit will turn into a blessing. Iga can have a bit of a rest at home before starting training on clay. 

The first tournament on clay will be Stuttgart so Iga can drive there and have her Dad for support.

Spending a few days at home might give her some peace and stability away from the craziness of the sport.

My hope is that just being on clay will give her a sense of comfort and confidence in her game (which she's in dire need of at the moment). 

On the other hand she will also be under immense pressure as the favourite having won all the clay court events last year (minus Stuttgart where she could make up some ground). Having that many points to defend could be a bit of a double edged sword. 

But if there was a surface I trust Iga to problem solve on the best and turn her forehand back into a huge weapon. It is clay. If she starts making the same type of errors on clay then I'll be really worried. 

I think Iga herself trusts her abilities on this surface more than any other. And who knows maybe this will be the year she finally figures out grass (I'm gonna keep saying it until I dream it into existence).

For all the analyzing and criticizing of Iga that I do on here, the main thing as a fan for me is to see her happy and enjoying the process and what she's doing.

Apart from anything else, I hope she gets to feel some joy in this sport again (the way she did at the beginning of the year in Australia). 

Hopefully clay will remind her of that. 

I'll be there to support her regardless. In good times and bad. 

Keep your head up Iga, see you in April.

   

Iga Swiatek battles past Svitolina for another quarterfinal in Miami

 

World No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland moved one step closer to her first title of the year with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the Round of 16 at the Miami Open.


Swiatek needed 2 hours and 5 minutes to battle past former World No. 3 Svitolina, completing the quarterfinal lineup at the year's fourth WTA 1000 event just after midnight on Tuesday morning.

Fast facts: Swiatek is still alive in her quest for a second Miami Open title -- she won this event in 2022 to complete the Sunshine Double (winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year). The only other women to complete the Sunshine Double are Stefanie Graf (twice), Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka.

Swiatek is indeed titleless so far in 2025 -- but despite that fact, she is still the tour leader in main-draw match-wins for the year. Her win over Svitolina was her 21st of the season, moving her ahead of Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka's 20 victories apiece.


Swiatek is also now 13-1 against Ukrainian players at Hologic WTA Tour events. Her only WTA Tour-level loss to a Ukrainian player was against Svitolina, in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Match moments: Swiatek was up a break on three separate occasions in the first set, but each of those times, Svitolina broke back in the very next game, and the pair naturally settled the opening frame in a tiebreak.

Svitolina battled back from 3-0 down in the breaker, but Swiatek used deep, heavy forehands on the humid night to keep herself from falling behind. Swiatek earned her first set point at 6-5 with a crosscourt backhand winner, and the Pole closed out the one-set lead with one last forehand winner after 62 grueling minutes.

In the second set, Swiatek had three break points to take a dominant 5-1 lead, but Svitolina swatted those away and was eventually able to pull back on serve at 4-3. However, Swiatek broke again in a challenging 5-3 game, and she powered her way to victory from there. Swiatek finished the match with 34 winners to Svitolina's 22.

Wild card awaits: Swiatek will now face an unexpected opponent in the quarterfinals: 19-year-old wild card Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.

Eala moved into the first Hologic WTA Tour quarterfinal of her career when her fourth-round opponent, No. 10 seed Paula Badosa, withdrew in advance of their match due to a lower back injury.

Even though she received a walkover today, World No. 140 Eala is not to be taken lightly. Eala had been 0-4 against Top 40 players coming into Miami, but had a breakthrough win over No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko in the second round and an even bigger win over No. 5 Madison Keys in the third round.

With those wins, Eala became the first Filipina woman in the Open Era to defeat Grand Slam singles champions at any WTA Tour event -- and now she will play another in five-time major champion Swiatek.

wtatennis.com

Talk about a weird match for about 15 games neither player could hold serve on the far side of the court. Thus lot's of breaks of serve. 

The quality of the match wasn't bad (lot's of great lengthy rallies). It just had a weird vibe, which I'm going to chuck up to being a night match (the first for both players) and the incredibly humid conditions.

Iga had quite a few errors on her forehand tonight, but stayed calm and didn't get frustrated. Played a great tiebreak where she was the braver of the 2 on set point.

All in all this kind of match could be good for Iga might not be playing her best and handing out bagels and breadsticks ala Indian Wells but that could actually be a good thing. 

She's having to battle and think her way out of situations. That'll will certainly give you more confidence in the long run than just running away with a match with zero challenge. 

Felt like that was part of the problem in Indian Wells all was good when Iga was leading but as soon as things got tough she panicked and had no plan B. So I'm taking both of Iga's last matches as huge positive.

Next up is someone I haven't seen much of fairly new to the sport a student from Rafa's Academy could be interesting. Should Iga get through it'd be another challenging semi with either Pegula or Raducanu (who's playing at quite a high level for the first time in Miami).

But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now we enjoy another quarter final for Iga at WTA 1000 level. 

Well done, see you Wednesday Iga.

Jazda!

OptaAce Stats:

37 - Since the format’s introduction in 2009, Iga Swiatek (37, level with Petra Kvitova) now only trails Victoria Azarenka (41) for WTA-1000 match wins over former WTA-1000 champions. Eclipse.

78.7 - Since the format's introduction in 2009, Iga Swiatek (78.7%, 37-10) holds the best win rate of any player at WTA-1000 events against former WTA-1000 champions – minimum five matches. Benchmark.

Iga Swiatek through to the round of 16 in Miami faces Svitolina

No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek reached the last 16 of a WTA 1000 event for a record 25th consecutive time with a 7-6(2), 6-1 defeat of No. 27 seed Elise Mertens in the Miami Open third round.

The Pole has not lost before the last 16 at this level since Cincinnati 2021, where she lost her second-round opener (following a bye) to Ons Jabeur. The second-most consecutive last-16 appearances in WTA 1000 tournaments is 18, tallied by Maria Sharapova between Indian Wells 2011 and Rome 2013 inclusive.

As in her previous match against Caroline Garcia, Swiatek did not have a straightforward ride. From 5-2 up in the first set, she was pegged back to 5-5 by Mertens, who won her ninth career title in Singapore last month. However, Swiatek took control by dominating the ensuing tiebreak, then rolled through the second set.

Two days previously, Swiatek had attributed her minor struggles against Garcia to an energy dip. On Sunday, the issue was her serve. In the first set, the 2022 champion only won 43% of the points behind her second serve, which allowed Mertens to get on the front foot and deliver pinpoint down-the-line winners. In the second, Swiatek solved the problem by raising her first-serve percentage from 60% to 79%, missing only four of her first deliveries.


"In the first set, my serve wasn't working perfectly," Swiatek said in her on-court interview. "I'm glad I was patient enough to just work for it, and in the second set I felt much better."

Swiatek will bid to reach her second Miami quarterfinal against No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina, who came through 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 over No. 15 seed Karolina Muchova. The Ukrainian now owns a 3-0 record against Muchova, having also defeated her twice in 2019. Swiatek leads her-head-to-head against Svitolina 2-1, including their only previous hard-court meeting in the third round of Dubai last year.

wtatennis.com

Iga Swiatek starts with a win in Miami

No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek defeated Caroline Garcia for the second time in as many tournaments to reach the Miami Open third round, advancing 6-2, 7-5 in 1 hour and 34 minutes.

Two weeks ago at the same stage of Indian Wells, Swiatek needed just 61 minutes to run away with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. This time round, Garcia put up slightly stiffer opposition -- Swiatek needed to overturn a 3-1 deficit and save one set point (serving down 5-4) in the second set. However, Swiatek delivered a clutch home stretch to reel off the last three games and improve to 6-1 overall against the Frenchwoman.

The Pole raced out of the blocks, winning the first 10 points before Garcia got on the board. But after breaking to go up 1-0 in the second set, she suddenly lost three straight games with a spate of unforced errors. Afterwards, Swiatek ascribed this to an energy dip.


"My energy level got down really fast," she said in her on-court interview. "So I tried to wake myself up, keep the intensity from the first set, follow through and go for it."

Other than that, 2022 Miami champion Swiatek had largely repeated the strategy that had been successful in Indian Wells, despite the slightly different conditions.

"The tactics was kind of the same, because our game styles are the same," she said. "But for sure the way you play changes a bit. Yeah, I mean, the ball bounces lower here, for sure, and the air also is not that dynamic. I feel like I have to be ready for a little bit faster game and be even lower on my legs.

"But that's going to be the case against every player, not only Caro. But I wouldn't say there was much difference. The only difference is I let her come back to the game in the second set a little bit."

The result made Swiatek the first player in the history of the WTA 1000 format (since 2009) to win 25 consecutive opening matches at this level, a streak that dates back to Cincinnati 2021, where she lost in the second round (after a first-round bye) to Ons Jabeur. In the Miami second round, she will next face No. 27 seed Elise Mertens, who delivered a succession of fine drop shots to defeat Peyton Stearns 6-4, 6-1.

wtatennis.com

Iga Swiatek falls short of another Sunshine Double

It was a day to remember for Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Miami Open on Monday as she defeated world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in a huge result in Florida. Swiatek had been in hot pursuit of securing the Sunshine Double after her impressive triumph at Indian Wells, but she was not able to match Alexandrova's level in the evening clash as she surprisingly crashed out of the tournament.

Iga Swiatek saw her pursuit of a second career Sunshine Double come to an abrupt end after she suffered an upset defeat to Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Miami Open.

Alexandrova pulled off a memorable result courtesy of an inspired performance as she out-battled the Pole to come through in straight sets, 6-4 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals in Florida.

Swiatek hit just eight winners with 16 unforced errors in a display that she will want to quickly forget about, but the evening belonged to Alexandrova, who is now into the last eight of a WTA 1000 tournament for the third time in her career.


"We played quite a few times before and sometimes it was three sets," Alexandrova said. "I think sometimes I was quite close to it but still far away.

"Winning against her, of course it feels great. I'm not sure if it's a surprise or not, but I just worked quite hard on the court, and it paid off."

Asked what particularly worked for her in the surprise victory, she added: "Just trying to go more inside the court, trying to hit everything in front of you so the opponent doesn't have as much time.

"I think when it goes in its very good but sometimes it's not working. But today, it worked.
"Second quarter-final here, second year in a row. Beating Iga after so many tries and she's No.1, it's the first time I beat a No.1. All three things are very special to me."

Alexandrova has also defeated Donna Vekic and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her run to the quarter-finals, and she will next face American Jessica Pegula, who overcame Emma Navarro in straight sets, 7-6(1) 6-3.


As for Swiatek, she was left to reflect on a hugely frustrating evening, but with her usual perspective.
"Disappointed, for sure, because I thought I was going to play better here in Miami," Swiatek said.


"She played an amazing match and for sure, she was the better player out there today.
"Her serve, I had a hard time reading it. I got a little bit tense when I couldn't return well."

eurosport.com

I'm not sure Iga got used to the different conditions between Indian Wells and Miami this time. 

Never really looked comfortable from the start of the tournament (if her performance with Noskova was any indication). 

But I'm still proud and happy of how far she got. She didn't play Miami last year due to the rib issue, so every round here this year was a bonus. 

But of course the media will see this loss as Iga losing to a big hitter once again. Never mind that she actually has a good H2H with Alexandrova (unlike with Ostapenko who's a big hitter herself).

Alexandrova is the type of player who like Ostapenko can beat anyone on a good day. She can just hit a real purple patch. This was one of those times. I'm not reading too much into this loss. 

There's a reason literally 4 or 5 women have won the Sunshine Double (Iga being one of them). It's damn hard.

I'm sure Iga was tired after the past few weeks winning Indian Wells and Doha before that. 

So I'm happy she'll get a bit of rest before playing in the Billie Jean King Cup in Switzerland (still on the hard court). And then switches over to her favourite surface after. 

I do hope Iga starts managing and prioritizing her schedule better. Because playing another 60+ matches this season is not good for anyone. 

Don't care how good or fit you are eventually your body will start to break down from strain. 

Last year Iga was the only woman on tour to play over 70 matches. 

The only person to equal that was Danil Medvedev on the men's tour; and even he took an extended break before the start of the following year.   

She did mention in an interview that she plans to play a full season this year, but will definitely curtail things in 2025 (especially with all the Masters events extending an extra week).

With so many events in the calendar both tours certainly don't make things easy in that regard. 

Iga Swiatek survives 3rd meeting of the season with Noskova at Miami Open

MIAMI -- World No.1 Iga Swiatek's bid to sweep the Sunshine Double continues at the Miami Open after the Polish star held on to defeat No.31 Linda Noskova 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4 in the third round on Sunday night. The win is Swiatek's first comeback win from a set down this season.

In the third meeting between the two this season, Swiatek came from a set down to improve her head-to-head to 3-1 over the 19-year-old Czech. Earlier this season, Noskova stunned Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open en route to her first major quarterfinal.

The 2-hour and 33-minute victory improved Swiatek's tour-leading record to 22-2 this season. Noskova dropped to 12-6.

"As you can see, it's not like we can take everything for granted," Swiatek said. "You can be in trouble at the early stages of the tournament. No sense to talk about Sunshine Double.

"For sure I'm taking just experience from this match and I know what I have to focus on little bit more because it wasn't like I felt 100 percent comfortable all the time. I mean, I thought it's going to be easier to get used to the new conditions and new balls, but it's been tricky today."

Coming off her victory at the BNP Paribas Open last week, Swiatek is bidding to become the second woman to sweep the Sunshine Double twice. Stefanie Graf is the only woman to complete the feat so far, winning Indian Wells and Miami in 1994 and 1996. Swiatek swept the back-to-back WTA 1000s during her historic 37-match win streak in 2022.

Noskova fought off an early lead by Swiatek, wiping out a set point to win a tightly-contested first-set tiebreak. Serving up 6-5 in the tiebreak, Swiatek set up a short forehand but pushed the ball beyond the baseline with her 20th unforced error keep Noskova in the set. After Swiatek saved a set point with a clean backhand winner, Noskova converted her second chance with a looping forehand that Swiatek helplessly watched drop inside the sideline.

Swiatek stormed back immediately in the second set, racing to a seemingly safe 5-1 lead. But the Pole's precision game remained shakey. Noskova reeled off three consecutive games and earned a break point to level to 5-5. But Swiatek saved set point to hold and force the match into a deciding frame.

The opening games of the final set remained close. Noskova escaped Swiatek's early return pressure, saving break point to hold to 1-0. But a double-fault at 2-2 gave Swiatek her second break point of the game and she converted as Noskova flew a forehand long.

Noskova made one final push. With Swiatek serving to close out the win at 5-4, the Czech earned triple break point with a clean forehand winner. The World No.1 responded with class, striking three clean winners to get to deuce and closed out the match on her first match point.

Swiatek will have a quick turnaround, but the 22-year-old is keen to move on from her up-and-down performance.

"You know that I'm an over-thinker," Swiatek said. "Usually the best tactic for me is to let it go. I want to use this experience. I'm pretty sure tomorrow I'm going to do that if everything goes well. Usually also these kind of things just settle in my head on their own. I'm just going to trust that it's going to be like that again."

Swiatek will face 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the Round of 16 on Monday. Alexandrova advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Swiatek leads the head-to-head 3-1.

wtatennis.com


Talk about 2 very different matches!. The match in Indian Wells a week ago, or even the first match in Miami was like night and day compared to this. The term winning ugly perfectly incapsulates what transpired in this one.

 
What looked like in both sets to be a fairly routine win. Turned into quite an unexpected rollercoaster!.

With both players struggling to find rhythm on serve and making an uncharacteristic amount of unforced errors.

I have to wonder if along with the change of venue the night conditions is what really threw Iga off here (especially as it got later into the night).

She was after all suppose to start her Miami campaign at night the match prior, but got moved due to rain so it ended up being a day match.

I admit to peeking through my fingers when Iga went down love-40 serving for the match. Still not quite sure how she got out of it. But I guess the old adage of champions find a way certainly fits here.

Definitely not one to remember in terms of quality, but certainly for the grit Iga showed in her worst performing days. So we wipe the slate clean, and live to fight and do better another day.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek triumphant in return to Miami Open

In the 100th WTA 1000 match of her career, World No.1 Iga Swiatek of Poland powered to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Italy's Camila Giorgi in the second round of the Miami Open on Saturday.

"I was feeling really pretty confident and I just wanted to see how I'm going to feel the surface," last week's Indian Wells champion Swiatek said after her latest win. "It was all really comfortable, so I'm happy."

Swiatek, the 2022 Miami Open champion, took just 67 minutes to dismiss big-hitting Giorgi, a former Top 30 player currently ranked No.107. Swiatek, who had a first-round bye, has not lost her opening match at any tournament since 2021 Cincinnati.

Top-seeded Swiatek now holds a 2-1 lead in her head-to-head with Giorgi. This was their first meeting outside of the Australian Open, with Giorgi winning in Melbourne in 2019 and Swiatek prevailing Down Under in 2021.

Keeping it 100: With her victory on Saturday, Swiatek has won 81 of her first 100 WTA 1000 matches. Only Serena Williams notched more wins in her first 100 matches at WTA 1000-level, with an 87-13 record. Swiatek and Maria Sharapova are tied for second place with matching 81-19 records.

If Swiatek goes all the way to the title this week, she will become only the second woman to pull off the Sunshine Double (winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year) two times. Stefanie Graf is currently the only woman to have achieved the feat twice, in 1994 and 1996. Swiatek got her first Sunshine Double in 2022.

By the numbers: Giorgi hit six double faults in her first two service games as Swiatek raced to a 4-0 lead on Saturday. Swiatek stared down four break points at 4-1 but got out of that jam on her way to the one-set lead. Those would prove to be the only break points she faced all day.

Swiatek had an equally easy time in the second set as she romped to her tour-leading 21st win of the year. Swiatek converted five of her 11 break points on the day, and her 18 unforced errors were exactly half of Giorgi's 36.

Noskova awaits again: Swiatek will see a familiar face in the third round when she takes on No.26 seed Linda Noskova. Czech teenager Noskova defeated qualifier Maria Timofeeva 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.

Swiatek and Noskova have already battled twice in the third round of huge events this year. The 19-year-old Czech Noskova stunned Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open, en route to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Swiatek got her revenge when she beat Noskova earlier this month in the same round at Indian Wells.

"Playing against [Noskova] is tough, as you could see in Australia," Swiatek said. "I'm going to focus on myself and learn what I did wrong, what I did good on our last matches and just use that knowledge so I can play in a solid way, really efficiently."

wtatennis.com

Basically the one day rain delay took longer than this match :D. Iga really didn't have to do a whole lot, Georgi give her a lot of free points with double faults. 

Defending Miami Open Champion Iga Swiatek withdraws with rib injury

Defending champion Iga Swiatek has been forced to withdraw from the Miami Open due to a rib injury.

The World No.1 said in a statement Wednesday that she'd been managing the injury since winning the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month. The top seed in Miami, Swiatek was expected to play American Claire Liu in the second round on Thursday after receiving a first-round bye.

"You know that in and after Doha I was struggling with a strong infection," Swiatek said. "I was allowed to play, but a strong episode of tough cough led to a rib injury. We were trying to handle it and continue to play as long as it was safe for me. We were analyzing the data in the last days and my doctor prepared my diagnosis.

"Unfortunately, I'm still feeling a lot of discomfort and pain and I can't compete."

After losing in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open to eventual champion Elena Rybakina, Swiatek hinted at her physical concerns in an Instagram post.

"I gave it all but Elena was a better player today," she wrote. "Unfortunately I'm feeling discomfort and pain in my ribs and it was challenging for me to compete at my highest level. Now, I just need to consult with my medical team and I will definitely use these next days to recover."

She said that the injury will also keep her out of Poland's Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier against Kazakhstan, to be played in Astana from April 14-15.

"I will keep you updated about where I play next, because it depends on my process of recovering and the recommendation of my medical team," she said. "I have the best team behind me, we only need some time to deal with the injury. It's a truly difficult call to not play in Miami and BJKC, but health is the most important.

Swiatek said she first felt the injury toward the last few games against Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells but wanted to complete the tournament.

But Swiatek decided to take a more cautious approach to safeguard against her injury worsening in Miami.

"I'm kind of aware if something hurts, it's usually going to be a problem in the future," Swiatek said in a press conference Wednesday at Hard Rock Stadium. "That's why I wanted to check it out as fast as possible. That's why I'm kind of taking a much more safe approach to that. That's why I'm pulling out."

When asked about whether she had any concerns over rankings implications, Swiatek conceded she understand she'll lose points, "but it doesn't change anything in terms of my approach and my mentality.

"I was also aware at the beginning of the season that it's going to be hard for me to defend all these points because it's not, like, these streaks, winning all these tournaments is like, looking logically and statistically, it's not like it's going to happen every year."

Swiatek did not lose a set in Miami last year, when she became the fifth woman to complete the Sunshine Double of winning Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back.

Swiatek will be replaced in this year's Miami Open draw by lucky loser Julia Grabher.

wtatennis.com

Well this was not unexpected, sad but not unexpected. Speedy recovery Iga!. 

See you in April on the clay.

Jazda!

Champions Corner: The mindset that paved the way to Swiatek's sweep

Unprecedented. That's the only way to describe Iga Swiatek's sweep of the first WTA 1000 events of the season, capped off by her 17th consecutive win on Saturday to wiSwiatek, 20, became the youngest woman to win Indian Wells and Miami in the same season, joining Stefanie Graf, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka as the only four women to do so. With her win in Doha in February, Swiatek became the first player to sweep the first three WTA 1000s in a season.

Inside the Numbers: The stats behind Swiatek's sweep to the Sunshine Double

That she did it all while managing the surprise Ashleigh Barty's sudden retirement to dominate a draw that included wins against Coco Gauff, Petra Kvitova, Jessica Pegula and Naomi Osaka in the final only adds to the degree of difficulty. After winning her opening match over Viktorija Golubic, Swiatek sealed her ascension to the No.1 ranking vacated by Barty. On Monday, Swiatek became Poland's first World No.1.

We left January wondering, "How do you beat Ash Barty?"

Two months later, we're wondering the exact same thing about Iga Swiatek.

Swiatek and her sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz joined the WTA Insider Podcast to discuss the keys to their success.n the Miami Open and complete the Sunshine Double.

WTA Insider: When you look back on the past six weeks, what was the key to sweeping these three tournaments?

Swiatek: That's a hard question because basically, I would say physically it was hard to keep up, staying in the routines and also being focused on eating healthy and all these small things that are around and that are pretty annoying after a few weeks. That was tough.

I think the thing that made the whole difference was my attitude and my different mentality. Right now, I feel like I can play more fearless tennis and use all the stuff that I've been working on in practice and convert it into my match game. That's the most important thing because we have to perform the best in tennis. At the end, when I was stepping out on court I was pretty confident that I can dominate.

WTA Insider: In Miami, you were winning your matches by executing a variety of different game styles. You weren't playing the same way all the time. How long has it taken you to have the confidence to be able to implement different game styles?

Swiatek: I'm glad that Tomasz has convinced me to work on having more variety. I think this really helps because in the end if you don't have options then you have nothing to choose from, you know? So I'm really happy that I could do that.

But actually, I think that this year I'm not adjusting that much to what my opponent is playing. It's really helpful because it helps me stay focused on myself, on my skills, on my powerful shots, and I can actually use what I was working on. Last season I felt I was maybe overanalyzing a little bit how my opponents were playing and that leads to more confusion. So I think not adjusting is working better. I don't know why.

WTA Insider: You're not adjusting in-match, but you're going in with a clear game plan?

Swiatek: For sure I have a plan and statistically, I know where my opponent is maybe going to make more mistakes. But in the end, it's my game that's going to force them to make the mistakes so I'm just focusing more on myself.

WTA Insider: What has been the key to your return game this year? You lead the tour in return games won. What's your attitude in return games?

Swiatek: On return, it's all about the reaction and the movement. The movement is always something that I've been comfortable with. This year I feel like I'm a little bit quicker maybe, and I can actually have more initiative on return games, not only push it back sometimes.

That's the only thing I can tell you. The other stuff [is a secret].

WTA Insider: You'll be Poland's first World No.1 on Monday. You said after the final that early in the tournament, you weren't sure if you deserved it. Why did you think that at the time and did winning Miami help to close that gap?

Swiatek: It helped for sure. After Miami, I thought that maybe it would happen anyway if Ash wasn't retiring.

But at first, for sure the way it happened I wasn't 100% satisfied because I knew Ash has the best tennis out there. When I was playing against her I felt like I had much more to improve. For me, she was the one to be World No.1 for these times. It gave me a lot of motivation to work on myself and I realized that maybe in a few years it would be possible for me.

But the way it happened, it didn't help for me to believe that I deserve it. Also, I'm so young. I know that there are many players who have been on tour for more than 10 years didn't have a chance to be World No.1.

WTA Insider: 26-3 and now we go to your favorite surface. What is your mentality with respect to getting back on clay and whether any of this impacts how you go into this section of the season.

Swiatek: It is really exciting because I always felt like even when I'm going to have the same results on clay it's always more comfortable for me to play on clay. I'm just more comfortable there. Actually, I feel like I can hit even more variety than on hard courts.

Basically, I don't care what my results are going to be. I know there's going to be a lot of pressure and I can't promise that I'm going to handle it well because I've never been in a situation like that before. So I'm going to do my best to do that well.

 
Highlights from Abramowicz's interview on the WTA Insider Podcast

Abramowicz: At the end of the day, my role is to help her create, build and sustain routines and also modify and manage them in many different environments. Because that's how the tour works, with the intensity of travel, changing time zones, changing places, changing venues, even the positions you're in throughout the year.

Iga is now No.1. A week ago she was probably thinking, 'OK, I achieved the No.2 position but now there is Ash and I want to chase her.' Now it changes overnight. Sometimes you might become No.20 or drop more in the rankings. It happens, that's how it is. So creating some sort of routines and building the toolbox that helps in different circumstances is one of the most relevant and crucial ways.

If I can say it another way, in Doha, when she was warming up before the final against Anett Kontaveit, we were at the gym. There were two TVs and there was no one to switch them off. On one of the screens was the live broadcast from BBC, the other from Al Jazeera from Ukraine.

Sometimes you have these sorts of circumstances. We would say this is the crisis management of my profession. Sometimes it happens. Covid happened. Other things happened. We try to build a system that works in different environments and different circumstances even if they are really tough ones.


In sports and also in business, people are trying to prepare themselves for coping with a loss or worse performance when they're underperforming, what to improve, what mistakes were made and how to adjust. This is great. Obviously, it helps to develop and it helps to reframe sometimes and adjust. This is really important.

But on the other hand, I would say we don't put enough attention to thinking and working on how to manage a success. This is something that is important to be able to prepare a player, team and environment for everything that happens when you achieve your goal.

Being No.1, winning a tournament, this is a goal. It's not a dream that is impossible to think about in terms of being real or potentially happening. This is a real-time goal. I'm putting a lot of attention and a lot of effort into preparing everyone, especially Iga, to manage a success when it comes. I think this is an approach that helps in top sports, even in terms of building confidence.

What we did across this last few weeks was develop this mindset that allows you to accept that there is no streak that goes indefinitely. At some point, she will lose a match. First, she will lose a set, and it will happen, she will lose a match. Maybe in some circumstances, she will underperform because something will happen, or she or we will make a mistake. And that's ok because that's life, that's sport, that's the beauty of it, that's the reality.

But once you accept that it might happen, that doesn't mean that you're willing to do it. This mindset still keeps you very close to the high standards to create the best possible quality and focusing the energy on the things you can control. So this is the biggest factor in developing the mindset that she is in.

wtatennis.com

Iga Swiatek's route to clinching an HISTORIC Sunshine Double in Miami

Inside the numbers: The Swiatek Sweep

Iga Swiatek solidified her impending rise to the World No.1 ranking after completing a "Swiatek Sweep" at the Miami Open on Saturday. The 20-year-old Polish star defeated former No.1 Naomi Osaka, 6-4, 6-0 to win the sixth title of her career and capped off a sweep of the first three WTA 1000 titles of the season, having also won the Qatar Total Energies Open and BNP Paribas Open.


"At the end I felt relief," Swiatek told reporters. "I was surprised that I could actually handle all these matches. I had many doubts during this tournament. It's pretty crazy for me."

WTA Insider breaks down the incredible numbers behind Swiatek's unprecedented feat.

Sweeping the Sunshine Double

4: Women to win the Sunshine Double, with Swiatek now joining Stefanie Graf, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka.

0: Players younger than 20-year-old Swiatek to win the Sunshine Double.

11: Years since a player younger than Swiatek has won four WTA 1000 titles. Swiatek is the second-youngest player, older only than Caroline Wozniacki, who clinched her first at 2011 Dubai).

The Swiatek Streak

29: The average rank of Swiatek's opponents during her winning streak.

1: Players who have swept the first three WTA 1000 tournaments to start a season. Swiatek stands alone.

2013: The last time a player won three or more consecutive WTA 1000 tournaments in a single season. Only three players have ever done it. Along with Swiatek, only Serena Williams in 2013 (four consecutive titles in Miami, Madrid, Rome and Toronto) and Caroline Wozniacki in 2010 (Montreal, Tokyo and Beijing).

4: Players to win 17 or more consecutive matches at WTA 1000 tournaments. Swiatek now joins Caroline Wozniacki (28, between 2010 Montréal and 2011 Miami), Victoria Azarenka (17, between 2012 Tokyo and 2013 Madrid) and Serena Williams (26, between 2013 Miami and 2013 Cincinnati).

2015: The last time a player won 17 or more consecutive matches on hard courts in a single season. Serena Williams won 20 straight between the 2015 Australian Open and Toronto.

23: Consecutive matches won by Naomi Osaka 2020 Cincinnati to 2021 Miami. Osaka is the last player to win 17 or more consecutive matches.



Miami Dominance

2: Main draw appearances for Swiatek in Miami. She made her tournament debut last year.

22: Years since a woman lost fewer games than Swiatek to win Miami. Swiatek lost 26 over this fortnight. In 2000, Martina Hingis lost only 21.

3: Bagel sets Swiatek dished out en route to the title in Miami.

4: Bagel sets Swiatek has dished out in her past four finals.

5: Games. That's the most Swiatek has lost in any of her five Slam or WTA 1000 finals.

20: Games conceded by Swiatek in her last five finals, an average of four games per match.

3: Matches in which Swiatek was unbroken in Miami (vs. Gauff, Kvitova, Osaka).

2: Matches in which Swiatek did not face a break point in Miami (vs. Kvitova, Osaka).

5: Times Osaka was broken heading into the Miami final. Swiatek broke her four times.

74: Percentage of games won by Swiatek in Miami. She won 73 of the 99 games she played.

57: Percentage of return games won by Swiatek in Miami. She played 49 return games and broke in 28 of them.

3: Number of seeds Swiatek defeated en route to the Miami title - No.14 Coco Gauff, No.16 Jessica Pegula, No.28 Petra Kvitova.

1: Final lost by Swiatek across the ITF and WTA level. She has won 13 of her 14 career finals. The only exception came in her first WTA final, where she lost to Polona Hercog in three sets at 2019 Lugano. She is now 6-1 in WTA finals.

10: Years since Agnieszka Radwanska became Miami's first Polish WTA champion. Swiatek is the second.

The Rivalry: Swiatek vs. Osaka

1: Win apiece for Swiatek and Osaka in their budding rivalry. Both matches were won in straight sets, with Osaka prevailing at 2019 Toronto and Swiatek winning in Miami.

2: The ranking both Swiatek and Osaka held when they defeated the other. Osaka was World No.2 at 2019 Toronto; Swiatek No.2 in Miami. At the time, the loser in each match was ranked outside the Top 60.

31: WTA 1000 appearances for Osaka. She has now made the final four times, winning twice: 2018 Indian Wells, 2019 Beijing.

14: WTA 1000 appearances for Swiatek. She has won all four finals: 2021 Rome, 2022 Doha, 2022 Indian Wells, 2022 Miami.

36: Osaka's ranking after Miami. She came into the tournament under threat of dropping out of the Top 100.

11: Wins for Osaka to start the 2022 season, posting an 11-3 record.

 

Swiatek's Sensational Spring

3: Titles Swiatek has won in 2022, the most on tour. She has already eclipsed her personal mark for most titles in a single season, having won two last year.

26: Wins for Swiatek to start the 2022 season, posting a 26-3 record as the tour turns to clay.

16: Wins for Paula Badosa and Maria Sakkari, who sit at No.2 behind Swiatek for tour wins in 2022.

4: Top 10 wins for Swiatek in 2022, already eclipsing her personal mark for most Top 10 wins in a season. She is 4-1 against the Top 10, with her sole loss coming to Ashleigh Barty in the Adelaide semifinals. She is 6-1 against the Top 20.

2019: Year that Swiatek made her Top 100 debut, moving to No.88 after making her first WTA final in Lugano.

2020: Year that Swiatek won WTA Newcomer of the Year and WTA Fan Favorite.

9: Swiatek's ranking at the end of the 2021 season, having made her Top 10 debut earlier in the season in May.

1: Swiatek's ranking on Monday, when she will make history as the first Polish player to sit atop the WTA or ATP rankings.

wtatennis.com

Iga Swiatek bests Osaka completes the "Sunshine Double" in Miami

Iga Swiatek continues her incredible run on Hologic WTA Tour hard courts, as the Polish player defeated Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-0 in the 2022 Miami Open final to win her 17th straight match and her third consecutive title.

On Monday, Swiatek will ascend to World No.1 for the first time in her career, and she will move to that position with authority following her commanding 1-hour and 17-minute victory over former World No.1 Osaka.

Sunshine Double complete: Swiatek also joins an exclusive club by becoming only the fourth woman to win the "Sunshine Double" — titles at WTA 1000 Indian Wells and Miami in the same season. Swiatek, 20, is the youngest woman to pull off the Sunshine Double.

Swiatek joins Stefanie Graf (1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Victoria Azarenka (2016) in completing that amazing feat. Once Monday hits, all four of those women will be on the list of World No.1 players.

Owning the WTA 1000s: Swiatek's career-best winning streak continues unabated, with all of her last 17 wins coming at the first three WTA 1000 events of the season.

The Pole swept the titles at WTA 1000 Doha, Indian Wells, and now Miami, joining Serena Williams (2013 – Miami, Madrid, Rome, Toronto) and Caroline Wozniacki (2010 – Montréal, Tokyo, Beijing) as the only players to win three or more consecutive WTA 1000 titles in a single season.

But Swiatek stands alone as the first player to win the first three WTA 1000 tournaments in a season. Overall, it is her fourth career WTA 1000 title, and the sixth Hologic WTA Tour singles title of her already outstanding career thus far.

Moreover, Swiatek becomes the first player to win 17 consecutive matches on hard courts in a single calendar year since Serena Williams won 20 straight hard-court matches between the Australian Open and Toronto in 2015.

Match moments: A tricky 10-minute game started proceedings, with Osaka saving two break points and withstanding seven deuces before holding. A handful of close games followed before Swiatek claimed the first break of the day with a backhand crosscourt winner to lead 3-2.

That would prove to be the deciding moment of the clash, as Swiatek marched to the one-set lead despite Osaka's bold returning tactics from deep inside the court. Swiatek kept the momentum as the second set began, breaking Osaka right away with aggressive returns of her own.

All told, Swiatek reeled off the last seven games of the match to extend her stunning winning streak. Swiatek never faced a break point in the affair, and prevailed on exactly two-thirds of Osaka’s second-service points (20 for 30).

wtatennis.com

17th consecutive match win.  Back to back to back WTA 1000 titles. 

Career title #6 (without losing a set!).

Youngest woman to complete the Miami double at 20 (Kim Clijsters was 21). 4th woman in history to complete the Miami "Sunshine Double". 

First woman to sweep the first 3 WTA 1000's in a season. And the official world #1 come Monday. 

Is this real life?.  Absolutely incredible. 

She continues her extraordinary record in semis and finals. Not to mention bagelling her opponents in 3 out of 4 of those finals...mind blowing. 

I honestly did not expect Iga to dominate as much as she did, but at the same time nothing surprises me anymore with the form she has been in and the way she has been playing. 

I felt a little bad for Naomi to be honest, but I love the respect they have for one another. 

I hope there are many more matches to come between them, because their rivalry is great for tennis. And their friendship off court is just lovely. 

I am honestly speechless with what Iga has been able to do the last few months. 

It's unheard of.  

She has officially and rightfully withdrawn from the green clay event in Charleston next week.

About time she gets some well deserved rest. Now she can have some time to decompress and let it all sink in. 

Not to mention getting some much needed family time whom I'm pretty sure she hasn't seen  since after winning Doha.

Though I also hear she wants to get some surfing lessons in before leaving Miami. 

Well done Iga, you have made Poland so extremely proud. 

Enjoy the fruits off all your incredible achievements.

See you on the clay!

Iga Swiatek holds off Pegula to make it sweet 16 & make Miami Open final with Osaka

It's a "sweet sixteen" for upcoming World No.1 Iga Swiatek, who won her 16th straight match with a hard-fought 6-2, 7-5 victory Thursday over Jessica Pegula in the Miami Open semifinals.

Swiatek is now into her first Miami Open final and her third consecutive WTA 1000 final overall. She needed 1 hour and 48 minutes to outlast No.16 seed Pegula, the last American standing, in singles at the Miami Open.

"Even though it's the middle of the night, I feel like I'm going to get some time to chill out today, because it was a really intense match and I had to give everything," Swiatek said after her win.

Iga vs. Naomi for the crown: Swiatek will now take on former World No.1 Naomi Osaka in an enticing championship battle. Osaka defeated Belinda Bencic for the first time at tour-level in the first semifinal of the day.

Osaka won their only previous meeting, when she beat Swiatek 7-6(4), 6-4 in the Round of 16 at 2019 Toronto.

If Swiatek can avenge that loss and defeat Osaka, she will become the fourth player to win titles at both Indian Wells and Miami in the same season, completing the "Sunshine Double." She would join Stefanie Graf (1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Victoria Azarenka (2016) in that select group.

"I am excited for sure [about facing Osaka in the final], but on the other hand for me, the most important job is this is a match like any other," Swiatek said. "I don't want to change my routines, I don't want to change my attitude, because it's been working out pretty well. I'm going to treat it like any other match."

WTA 1000 dominance: Swiatek has not lost a match at the WTA 1000 events this year, where the entirety of her career-best winning streak has taken place. She won the first WTA 1000 event of the season in Doha, then followed up with the title at WTA 1000 Indian Wells a fortnight ago.

Swiatek needed to battle through a tense second set with Pegula, fighting back from an early break down, then squandering two match points at 5-4 before sealing victory two games later. Nevertheless, Swiatek is into the final without the loss of a set.

"[Pegula] is playing really low balls, that's her style," Swiatek said. "You have to work really low on your legs. It's just getting more and more intense. She's not missing a lot, so basically she's gonna also just use every opportunity to attack as well."

Swiatek is now the ninth player to reach the finals at both Indian Wells and Miami in the same year, joining Monica Seles, Graf, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Clijsters, Maria Sharapova and Azarenka.

All eight of those players have taken a turn at World No.1. Swiatek will get her own turn Monday, when she is guaranteed to ascend to the World No.1 ranking for the first time in her career.

Stat corner: Pegula pulled off a comeback from a set down in her previous meeting with Swiatek, which came in Washington, D.C. in 2019. Pegula went on to win her first career singles title that week.

This time, Swiatek refused to yield in her winning streak as she leveled her head-to-head with Pegula at a win apiece.

Swiatek was able to hold onto more of her first-service points than Pegula, with the Polish player prevailing on 70 percent of those points, while the American only won 55 percent of points behind her first serve.

Swiatek converted just six of her 16 break points, but she still doubled Pegula's three service breaks for the evening.

Key moments: As she had done in all of her previous sets at the 2022 Miami Open, Swiatek zipped through the first set, stepping in on nearly every ball and powering through the opener without facing a break point.

But in the second set, Pegula showed off the combination of offense and defense which propelled her to a career-high ranking of No.14 earlier this year. Speedy Pegula increasingly forced Swiatek into errors, and Pegula broke the No.2 seed three times in the second set, including at 5-4, where Swiatek had two match points.

But at 5-5, Swiatek put on the afterburners, slamming a backhand winner down the line to earn a break at love and a second chance to serve out the match. Swiatek took that opportunity with gusto, converting her third match point after a long return by Pegula.

wtatennis.com

Sweet 16 indeed :). 

But boy, did she have to work for it!. 

My blood pressure sky rocketed in that second set. 

The way Iga refused to lose at the end of that set was something else!. 

Her ability to fight and find solutions to stay in matches has really improved this year. 

As a viewer it's an absolute joy to watch her play at this level, and I honestly cannot wait for the final on Saturday. 

I know it won't be easy, and that the one other time they played Naomi won it. 

But that was before Iga won Roland Garros or any of her 4 other titles for that matter.  And as I've said she is playing on another level the last couple of months.  

I expect the match to be high quality but it wouldn't shock me if Iga manages to pull off the "sunshine double" even against someone as good as Osaka.  

Naomi does have a better save and has been firing a lot of aces in Miami, so Iga will have to protect hers really well, and try to avoid double faults.

Finals do seem to bring out the best in Iga. 

Beyond excited!.  

Bring on Saturday!.