Iga Swiatek continued to build momentum and confidence at the Miami Open as she reached the fourth round with a hard-fought 7-6 (2), 6-1 victory against Belgium’s Elise Mertens, the 27th seed.
Throughout an extremely tight opening set, Mertens demonstrated her intelligence and resourcefulness as she made life difficult for the second seed. In the tie-break, however, Swiatek rose to the occasion and then played a brilliant second set to seal the victory.
“I’m happy that I kept my focus and I knew in the first set my serve wasn’t working perfectly but I’m glad that I was patient enough to work for it,” the Pole said. “In the second set I felt much better.”
With this victory, Swiatek is the first player in history to reach the round of 16 in 25 consecutive WTA 1000 events since the category was created in 2009, a reflection of her peerless consistency.
After an unsatisfying start to the year, the world No 2 is seeking her first title of the season in Miami. This is the first time since 2020, when she claimed her maiden title, at the French Open in October, that she has failed to win a tournament in the first 10 weeks of the season. Swiatek won the Miami Open in 2022, which sealed a historic “Sunshine Double” after her Indian Wells triumph.
“I love playing here,” she said. “I missed playing here in 2023 so I wanted to enjoy every day here and not take it for granted. For sure, I’m ready to work hard to stay as long as possible. Today’s match was nice because we had some tight moments as well and I was able to play well through them so I’m pretty proud and looking forward to the next one.”
Meanwhile, despite his frustrating second-round defeat by Jakub Mensik on Saturday, Jack Draper reflected on an intense few weeks of competition after winning his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells.
“I think I get a lot of confidence from the last couple of weeks,” the British No 1 said. “Obviously I’m really disappointed with how it’s gone here. To win a Masters 1000, to know I had the level to do that, to beat the players I did, only gives me a lot of motivation and confidence moving forward.
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“I’m just looking forward to getting back training, getting back to work. My feet are firmly on the ground and I just got to keep on moving forward the right way, keep on doing my thing and listening to the people around me and move on.”
Meanwhile, Alexandra Eala, a 19-year-old wildcard ranked No 140, became the first Filipino tennis player in the Open era to defeat a reigning grand slam champion as she toppled the Australian Open winner Madison Keys 6-4 6-2 to reach the fourth round. Novak Djokovic, the men’s fourth seed, later reached the second week with a 6-1 7-6 (1) win over Camilo Ugo Carabelli as he tries to find his feet after a rocky start to the season.
