By Richard Pagliaro | Tennis Now | Saturday April 2, 2022
Iga Swiatek won seven straight games sweeping Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-0 capturing the Miami Open title, completing the Sunshine Double and earning her 17th straight win.
Photo Source: Miami Open
MIAMI—Striding onto a sun-splashed Hard Rock Stadium, Iga Swiatek carried her Tecnifibre racquet in her left hand and wore a bright smile on her face.
Even before she struck a shot, Swiatek was ready for action.
Playing with relaxed intensity, Swiatek stormed through seven straight games pulverizing Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-0 to capture her first Miami Open championship, score her 17th consecutive victory and complete the Sunshine Double.
In sunny south Florida, Swiatek solidified her status as new world No. 1—she will officially succeed newly-retired Ash Barty in the top spot on Monday—and a dominant force in the sport.
“I would say before that tournament I thought okay I’m number one, but I didn’t actually know if I deserved it. But right now I think I deserve it more. Winning it is going to give me huge confidence.”
A brilliant performance from the 20-year-old Pole shows Swiatek has staying power.
Swiatek joins Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka as the fourth woman in history to sweep the Sunshine Double winning Indian Wells and Miami in succession. Swiatek is the first woman to win the first three WTA 1000 tournament titles of the season: Doha, Indian Wells and Miami.
“I’m super tired, honestly,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “Well it was so intense I didn’t really know if I’m going to be able to keep up the streak. It’s good for me I can show mental toughness. My whole life, I know I can do more…
“This season I feel like everything clicked I think I was returning her second serves pretty well and I wanted to pressure her. Honestly even though I played so many matches I could run for every ball so I didn’t really care if the rallies were short or long.”
The 2020 Roland Garros champion has reeled off 20 consecutive sets during this career-best winning streak and outclassed Osaka, who won just eight points in the second set today.
How strong was Swiatek during his run? She won three of 12 sets she played at love this week and permitted just 26 games total in the tournament.
In a battle of the new and former world No. 1 stars, Swiatek shined brightly. The Indian Wells champion did not face a break point, dominated key baseline exchanges and applied her athleticism and court coverage making Osaka work hard to win baseline rallies. Swiatek smacked 21 winners against just 14 errors, while Osaka nearly doubled her unforced error output committing 29 errors.
"It's surreal, but on the other hand I know I'm in the right place and I have been working for that my whole life," Swiatek said. "Well, for sure just playing against Naomi in a final was pretty exciting, and I knew that the world is going to watch, because it's nice match just to follow, you know. I wanted to give the best tennis I can so people actually can be satisfied.
"But on the other hand, just, you know, seeing that I can play that well against such a player is really satisfying."
At times, Osaka crept well inside the baseline trying to pounce on Swiatek's second serve, but the Pole's skill repelling returns and pouncing on any mid-court shots left the four-time Grand Slam champion conceding she felt "confused" as to how exactly to attack her opponent's second serve.
"I thought first set was pretty close, but I think throughout the match I just couldn't really figure out what to do on her second serve," Osaka said. "I didn't really know if I should go forward or go back. I think this is something I probably should have decided before the match. But other than that, I thought it was kind of cool to see her movement up close.
"Yeah, all in all, I mean, it was a sad outcome but it was a fun day."
Despite the lopsided loss, Osaka received a rousing reception from fans who cheered her throughout and spiked roars after tournament director James Blake praised her return to her first final in 15 months. In contrast to Indian Wells where Osaka broke down in tears after a rude fan yelled out “Naomi, you suck!”, the woman who grew up training in Florida maintained a positive perspective throughout.
Enthusiastic fan support nearly inspired tears of joy in Osaka, who revealed "I don't want to cry in public anymore."
“I would say like I'm like really grateful for it. Like it kind of almost made me cry, but I don't want to cry in public anymore," Osaka said. "So I was holding it in. It meant a lot to me, because I feel like aside from like winning and losing, I appreciated the fact that people were happy to see me like playing again or happy to see me happy. So I appreciated it like on a human-being basis...
"Yeah, definitely feel the Love. I really appreciate it. I think the atmosphere here today for the finals was one of the best I have ever played in."
Playing her first final since she beat Jennifer Brady to capture the 2021 Australian Open title, Osaka opened with an ace then got a glimpse of how the formidable challenge the new No. 1 poses. Swiatek dragged the former No. 1 through a physical opening game before Osaka swept an ace to hold.
Five games into the match, Swiatek lifted her level and Osaka dipped a bit. Osaka double faulted to face double break point. A smooth lateral mover, Swiatek stretched the court then cracked a backhand winner crosscourt and raised her clenched fist as Polish fans waved their flag celebrating the first break and a 3-2 lead.
Facing her lone stress test of the day in the eighth game, Swiatek recovered from love-30 down to hold for 5-3. The second seed served out the set at 15.
Despite serving just 41 percent in opening set, Swiatek won 71 percent of her second serve points (12 of 17) compared to 40 percent for Osaka. Swiatek did not face a break point in the opener and made her mark in running rallies firing with accuracy when stretched.
Meanwhile, Osaka sometimes tried to strong-arm her way through baseline rallies. Falling into a triple break point hole to start the second set, Osaka flattened a forehand into the middle of the net surrendering serve at 15.
Sixty-two minutes into the match, Swiatek curled her first ace out wide and raised a clenched fist confirming the break for a one-set, 2-0 lead.
The two-time US Open champion wasn’t gaining too much traction in baseline exchanges and needed to summon her wrecking ball serve to get back into the match. But Osaka made just three of her first 11 first serves in the second set and dumped her first double fault, ceding the break and a 3-0 lead to the second seed.
Swiatek spun a diagonal forehand winner sealing her fifth straight game extending to 4-0.
A streaking Swiatek sealed her third consecutive WTA 1000 championship when Osaka’s final forehand return floated well wide ending a 79-minute thrashing.
Riding the best winning streak of her life has empowered Swiatek to trust herself and her game.
"For sure I learned a lot about myself that I can keep going and really I don't need to feel like 100% on points to win matches against great players," Swiatek said. "I can trust myself a little bit more right now. I really used that streak to have more confidence and also the ranking, you know. Sometimes I felt earlier that the ranking can push me down a little bit. I felt like baggage on my shoulders.
"This time I worked through that, and it was much better and it really inspired me. That's what I can take from it."