Miami Open 2024: Iga Swiatek’s Hard-fought Victory and Caroline Garcia’s Dominance

Prior to Swiatek’s four-time Grand Slam victory in Indian Wells, the Czech defeated him in the Australian Open’s third round.
Unsurprisingly, the third encounter between the two this year was a close one.

Swiatek had three break points while serving to square the match at 5-4 after putting in a lot of effort to overcome her opening set tie-break loss and force a deciding frame.
She won the following five points, though, and rejoiced by pumping her fist and waving it at her box.

“It wasn’t simple. According to Swiatek, there were just a lot of ups and downs. “I’m glad that after the first set, I knew better what to do. I just made an effort to do that at key times. Such battles do occur occasionally, and we must find a method to end them anyway.”

Swiatek will play 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the round of 16 on Monday. Swiatek is aiming to become just the second woman to win the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami. Alexandrova defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a fellow Russian, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

France’s Caroline Garcia defeated Naomi Osaka 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 on Sunday to go to a fourth-round match against world no. 3 Coco Gauff. The two players combined for 28 aces in a hard-hitting encounter, and Osaka had to battle to win the opening set and save three set points.

Garcia won the tie-break on her forehand, but she had to come back from a 4-2 deficit to trail Osaka in the second set.

Garcia forced two break points, converting the second, as Osaka was serving at five all.
The defending US Open champion Gauff trailed Oceane Dodin of France 4-2 in the opening set before winning 10 straight games to win 6-4, 6-0.

Gauff stated that she anticipated a challenging matchup with Garcia.
“She is resilient. Everybody knows how she plays. plays with extreme aggression and takes the ball quite early,” she remarked.

The fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula defeated Leylah Fernandez of Canada 7-5, 6-4 to go to the fourth round and face Emma Navarro, her form continuing.

In the opening set, Fernandez broke to take a 5-3 lead, but Pegula came up with a flawless response, taking the set in four games.

In the second set, both players had trouble holding serve; the first seven games went against Pegula’s serve. However, she managed to hold to move ahead 5-3, and she won the last game to love.

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Pegula to Play Navarro

The top-ranked American woman, Pegula, will take on Navarro, the rising star of USA women’s tennis, who defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini, ranked 12th, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.

After rallying in the second set, Paolini, who had earlier this year won the WTA 1000 Series tournament in Dubai, lost her way, and Navarro solidified her place among the tour’s most improved players.

Navarro, who won her maiden WTA championship in Hobart in January, is having the best season of her career, having won 20 matches thus far, a record surpassed only by Swiatek.

Pegula stated that her success will instill confidence in others, making her a formidable foe.
“That feeling of winning a lot of matches, it’s really tough to beat people like that and even if you do beat them it’s never easy,” she stated.

“It will be a really good test for me to see where I’m at considering she is probably one of the hottest players on tour right now.”

Gauff has been impressed with the 20th seed’s rise.
Sincerely, I’m not shocked that she placed in the top 20. Gauff remarked, “I would say (more) maybe how fast.”

She is an excellent athlete. She’s a very intelligent player who’s causing problems for the best players. You don’t want to see her too early in the competition.