Iga Swiatek achieves another milestone, celebrates with win in Miami Open

Poland’s Iga Swiatek continues to achieve milestones with her impressive run at the Miami Open. The 23-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in women’s tennis in the singles category, along with the likes of Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka and America’s Coco Gauff.

Swiatek is currently taking part in the WTA 1000 event in Miami, where she booked her spot in the round of 32 after beating Belgium’s Elise Mertens in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-1. With that win, the Warsaw-born has now remained in the top-10 for 200 weeks.

Interestingly, out of those 200 weeks, she stayed in the top two for 159 weeks. She has now remained in the top three for three consecutive years. Swiatek has been going through a rather difficult phase of her career as she has not won a single WTA event since winning the French Open last year.

Most recently, Swiatek lost in the semifinal of the Indian Wells to young Russia’s Mirra Andreeva with a score of 7-6, 1-6, 6-3. Before that, she also lost in the semifinal of the Australian Open to Madison Keys with a score of 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 and the semifinal of the Qatar Open to Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-1.

Swiatek is now set to face Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the last 16 of the competition. She defeated Karolina Muchova in the round of 32 with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. This will be the fourth meeting between the two players in professional tennis. In the previous three meetings, Swiatek had a slight edge as she emerged victorious on three occasions. Their most recent meeting was in the third round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship last year, where the world number two came out on top in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-4.