Swiatek defeats Osaka, extends win streak to 17
■ Iga Swiatek topped Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-0 to win the Miami Open and become the first Polish player, male or female, to reach No. 1.
Red and white Polish flags waved from every section of Stadium Court at the Miami Open on a sunny Saturday afternoon as incoming world No. 1 Iga Swiatek continued her dominance of women’s tennis this season with a 6-4, 6-0 win over former No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the championship.
Swiatek has won 17 matches in a row and three consecutive WTA 1000 titles after trophies at Doha and Indian Wells. She is the fourth woman in history, and the youngest, to capture the “Sunshine Double” (Indian Wells and Miami), following Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka.
On Monday, the humble, congenial 20-year-old will replace retired Ashleigh Barty as No. 1 in the world rankings, the first Polish player, male or female, to reach the pinnacle of the sport. She won the Miami Open without dropping a set and extended her win streak in finals to six in a row over the past three seasons.
Asked if she sees the No. 1 player in the world when she wakes up and looks in the mirror, she smiled and said: “When I wake up and look in the mirror, I see a mess [laughter]. I’m still the
same person, the same
Iga, and I want to stay that way. I don’t want the success to change me in a negative way.”
Most of the news surrounding Poland in recent weeks has been about the 3 million Ukrainians who have fled the Russian invasion and taken refuge in Poland. The situation back home has been on Swiatek’s mind during her rise to the top of tennis.
“I am really proud [of Poland taking in refugees], the thing is I have been in Poland only five days [recently], but it hit me all the things that are happening,” she said. “It’s hard to feel the same things they are when I’m in the States, but I’m going to go back now and catch up with my friends and family, but I am happy they are supporting Ukrainians and hopefully my tennis can give them a little bit of joy.”
She said it was “overwhelming” to see so many Polish flags in the stands and that she plans to use her position in future months to help the cause.
Swiatek took a moment during her postmatch speech to say: “As I was doing in my previous speeches at Doha and Indian Wells, I want to say to Ukraine to stay strong. Hopefully, everything’s going to get better.”
Later, she said she hopes she and Hubert Hurkacz, who won the Miami Open men’s doubles title with John Isner on Saturday, will inspire young Polish athletes.
Saturday’s match started with a tense 10-minute game during which Osaka saved two break points and withstood seven deuces before holding. But Swiatek wore Osaka down with her movement and shot-making and took control by late in the first set. She broke Osaka to open the second set and won the final seven games of the 79-minute match. Swiatek never faced a break point.
Osaka, who had dropped to No. 77 in the world after struggling with mental health issues, moves up to the top 40 and said she leaves in a much better place emotionally and is playing with a renewed joy.
“Normally I would have cried in the locker room after a loss like this, but now, I’m more chill,” she said. “The other day I was celebrating being back in the top 50, so I’m not taking things for granted anymore, being a bit more humble of the situations I am granted.”
During the trophy ceremony, tournament director James Blake looked at Osaka and said: “I can’t tell you how good it makes me feel to see you happy again.” The stadium erupted in cheers.
“It almost made me cry, but I don’t want to cry in public anymore, so I held it in,” Osaka said. “It meant a lot to me. Aside from winning and losing, I appreciate people were happy to see me happy again, see my playing again.”
Her next goal is to be seeded for the French Open. She said she wants to be top 10 by the end of the year, and maybe back to No. 1 next year.
“It’s cool to see where the level of No. 1 is and to see if I can reach that,” she said. “It feels kind of good to chase something. That is a feeling I have been missing.”
Swiatek and Osaka are friendly off the court and during a dinner two years ago in Melbourne, Australia, Swiatek mentioned that if her pro tennis career didn’t get going, she was considering attending college. Osaka advised her to stick to tennis and put college on hold. It was good advice.
Swiatek earned $1.23 million for the win. Osaka earned $646,110 for being a finalist.
Swiatek said it feels fun but strange, in a way, to be on such a long win streak.
“I feel like I have to celebrate because I don’t know how long I can keep up with this streak,” she said. “It’s pretty weird because I got used to losing and had accepted that in tennis you lose more tournaments than win.”
Men’s doubles: Hurkacz A and Isner, who were unseeded wild cards, won the men’s doubles title 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 over sixth-seeded Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski. It was an entertaining match, as both sides relied on strong serving.
“We have a lot of good synergy,” said Isner, whose former coach Craig Boynton, now works with Hurkacz.
“It was such a pleasure playing with John with his serve it makes it pretty easy so I just need to work on my overhead,” Hurkacz added.
Michelle Kaufman: 305-376-3438, @kaufsports