Biggies Swiatek, Gauff upset in fourth round

Miami, March 26: World number one Iga Swiatek was knocked out of the Miami Open after inspired Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova triumphed 64, 6-2 in their fourth round match on Monday.

The 16th seed Alexandrova played brilliant attacking tennis from the outset to beat the Pole and leave the WTA tournament without any of the top three seeds in the quarterfinals with Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff also out.

France’s Caroline Garcia upset world number three Gauff beating the American 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 on Monday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, while world number two Aryna Sabalenka had been eliminated by Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina on Saturday.

Swiatek never looked comfortable after Alexandrova broke her in the opening game and took control of proceedings with some outstanding, attacking tennis.

The Pole, who was looking to become the second woman to win the ‘Sunshine Double’ after her triumph at Indian Wells, generated just one break point in the match but Alexandrova saved it to take a 4-2 lead in the second set.

Having come from a set down in the previous round against Linda Noskova, Swiatek would have had some belief in turning the contest around but her Russian opponent was in no mood for mistakes. She made short work of the second set, breaking to go 2-1 up with an startling crosscourt return and ending the match with with 31 winners to Swiatek’s 11.

The match was the first in which Swiatek has not broken serve since her defeat to Ash Barty in Adelaide in January, 2022.

After a thrilling encounter, which ebbed and flowed, Garcia emerged to face a Last Eight meeting with the winner of the match between Sorana Cirstea of Romania and American Danielle Collins.

The victory was Garcia’s first against a top ten opponent since late 2022 but her third career win (3-2) against Gauff, who she also beat in the 2022 US Open. Gauff was playing in front of a home crowd. Fourth seed Elena Rybakina defeated American Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5 to set up a quarterfinal with Greece’s Maria Sakkari. —