Swiatek, Gauff out of Miami Open

Iga Swiatek’s hopes of landing another “Sunshine Double” ended in a 6-4 6-2 fourth-round loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova on Monday as the world No 1 joined third-seed Coco Gauff in making an early exit from the Miami Open.

Swiatek, who won the first leg of the Sunshine Double at Indian Wells this month, was outplayed by the Russian world No16, who claimed the biggest win of her career.

“I just went out on the court and did my best, I think it went quite well,” Alexandrova said.

Top-seed Swiatek, who captured the Sunshine Double in 2022, never broke Alexandrova’s serve and had no answer to her powerful and precise groundstrokes under the lights in South Florida.

Alexandrova, seeded 14th, will next face fifth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals after she overcame fellow American Emma Navarro 7-6(1) 6-3.

Frenchwoman Caroline Garcias ’ serve was clicking early in her battle against Gauff and she never faced a break point in the opening set before the American raised her level to even the affair at a set apiece.

In the first game of the deciding set, Garcia fended off four break points to hold serve and broke at love to take a 2-0 lead she would not relinquish against her 20-year-old opponent.

“I think I stayed positive and optimistic about my serve,” Garcia said about the five break points she saved. “The first game of the third set was quite important for me and maybe for her also and I got a little lucky because my forehand was catching the line but also I went for it, so maybe it’s my reward.”

Next up for Garcia is American Danielle Collins, who beat Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-2.

Fourth-seed Elena Rybakina powered past Madison Keys 6-3 7-5 to dispatch Florida resident Keys and will next meet a well-rested Maria Sakkari after the Greek eighth seed got a walkover into the quarterfinals.

Rybakina was more efficient than Keys, winning just more than 80% of her first serve points and converting three of her eight break points during the 84-minute encounter.

“Really happy with my performance today,” Kazakhstan’s Rybakina said. “It was a tough one.

“With Madison, it’s always difficult matches and she’s an aggressive player so I knew that I needed to be ready for every point, especially on the return.”