March 26, (THEWILL)- In a major upset at the prestigious Miami Open tennis tournament, world number one Iga Swiatek suffered a shocking fourth-round exit on Monday. The 22-year-old Polish star, was ousted by inspired Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, who triumphed 6-4 and 6-2 in an outstanding performance.
The 16th seed Alexandrova played aggressive, attacking tennis from the start to win, leaving the WTA tournament without any of the top three seeds in the quarter-finals. Earlier, world number three Coco Gauff was upset by France’s Caroline Garcia, while world number two, Aryna Sabalenka, had been eliminated by Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, on Saturday.
Swiatek never found her rhythm as Alexandrova broke her serve in the opening game and dictated play throughout the match. Despite generating just one break point opportunity, which Alexandrova saved for a 4-2 lead in the second set, the world number one failed to threaten a comeback.
The Russian capitalised on her opponent’s struggles, firing 31 winners to Swiatek’s 11. Alexandrova sealed an impressive victory, making short work of the second set after coming from a set down in her previous round against Linda Noskova.
In the post-match interview, a delighted Alexandrova acknowledged her exceptional performance, stating: “It was such a great game for me in consistency, the serve, the returns, the playing from the baseline, I think it was pretty good and I hope I can keep for the next match.” She will face fifth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
