Alexandrova swats Swiatek in Miami upset

Top seed Iga Swiatek went down in the fourth round of the Miami Masters under a barrage of 31 winners from Ekaterina Alexandrova to lose her chance at a second trophy sweep of the Sunshine Double events.

The Pole ranked No. 1 on the WTA won both Indian Wells and Miami in March, 2022. But her chances of a repeat went up in smoke as she lost to Alexandrova with a sub-par performance.

Swiatek managed only one break point and finished with 11 winners and 27 unforced errors.

“I thought I was going to play better here,” Swiatek said.

“She played an amazing match and for sure, she was the better player out there today. I had a hard time reading her serve.

“And I got a little bit tense when I couldn’t return well.”

Alexandrova, ranked 16th, last defeated Swiatek in 2021, but had lost three subsequent matches to the Pole.

“Winning against her, of course it feels great,” she said.

“I’m not sure if it’s a surprise or not, but I just worked quite hard on the court and it paid off.”

Alexandrova moved into a quarter-final with fifth seed Jessica Pegula.