Swiatek makes shock Miami exit

MIAMI (AFP) — World No. 1 Iga Swiatek was knocked out of the Miami Open after Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova triumphed 6-4, 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 quarter-finals 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 a startling cross-court return and ending the match with 31 winners to Swiatek 11.

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

“I just feel disappointed, for sure, because I thought I was going to play better here in Miami. But she played an amazing match and for sure was the better play out there today,” the 22-year-old, four-time grand slam winner said.

‘It was such a great game for me in consistency, the serve, the returns, the playing from the baseline, I think it was pretty good and I hope I can keep for the next match.’

Swiatek said she had a hard time reading Alexandrova’s serve but felt that things just hadn’t clicked for her in the tournament.

“I was feeling that I couldn’t play in a natural way but it’s not like I always feel comfortable on court. I thought I would be able to work through that,” she said.

Alexandrova laughed off the suggestion that she had played a perfect match but was certainly not going to downplay her performance.

“It was such a great game for me in consistency, the serve, the returns, the playing from the baseline, I think it was pretty good and I hope I can keep for the next match,” she said.

A quarterfinalist also in Miami last year, that next match will be against fif th-seed Jessica Pegula on Wednesday.