Iga Swiatek’s dream season continued as the incoming world number one scooped her third successive WTA 1000 title to beat Naomi Osaka in the Miami Open final on Saturday.
The Polish 20-year-old has now become only the fourth – and youngest – player to win the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami in the same year following Steffi Graf, Kim Cljisters and Victoria Azarenka.
Swiatek, who will be formally confirmed as world number one when the new WTA rankings are announced on Monday, has now won 17 straight games, a winning streak that includes titles in Doha, Indian Wells and now Miami.
Osaka, 24, enjoyed a welcome return to form in Florida even if the four-time Grand Slam champion’s first final since the Australian Open in 2021 ended in a comprehensive 6-4, 6-0 defeat.
Swiatek headed into a sixth career final on the back of 16 straight wins — the last player to win 16 or more in a row was Osaka who was on fire between Cincinnati in 2020 and last year’s Miami Open.
Their only previous meeting in 2019 ended with a straight sets win for Osaka over an 18-year-old Swiatek.
Osaka has been serving well this tournament and hit an impressive 18 aces in her semi-final win over Belinda Bencic but was broken by Swiatek to make it 3-2 in the first and began to look susceptible.
The former French Open champion is one of the finest returners in the women’s game and even though Osaka was attempting to aggressively jump upon Swiatek’s second serve, her opponent was far more consistent and clinical overall.
A break of the Osaka serve right at the start of the second saw any lingering hopes for the Japanese melt in the Miami sunshine and Swiatek easily moved through the gears to land her sixth career title amid joyous scenes at Hard Rock Stadium.
AFP
