Iga Swiatek
commented that she avoids thinking about a possible title at the
Miami Open and
achieving the Sunshine Double for the second time. The world No. 1 secured a
tough victory over Linda Noskova (6-7, 6-4, 6-4) and advanced to the
tournament's round of 16 to face
Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The Polish
player is currently in the best form with 15 wins in her last 16 matches and a
record of 22-2 in 2024. Additionally, she won the title in Indian Wells just
over a week ago and maintains a streak of 8 consecutive victories.
Aryna
Sabalenka's exit in the third round partially clears the way for Swiatek, who
is the overwhelming favorite to achieve the Sunshine Double for the second time
in her career, joining Steffi Graf, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic as the
only players to repeat the feat.
Despite
everything looking good for Swiatek, the Polish player mentioned that she still
doesn't think about the title and prefers to take it step by step in the
tournament: "As you can see, it's not like we can take everything for
granted. You can be in trouble at the early stages of the tournament. No sense
to talk about Sunshine Double,” she said.
The
Polish player started the tournament against Camila Giorgi with a comfortable
victory of 6-1, 6-1. However, she also showed that she can find solutions when
things don't go well, as in the great match against Linda Noskova, where she
came back from a set down: "For sure I'm taking just experience from this
match and I know what I have to focus on little bit more because it wasn't like
I felt 100% comfortable all the time."
The 4-times
Grand Slam champion also acknowledged that she hasn't felt completely
comfortable with the conditions in Miami, which are much more humid than in the
California desert during Indian Wells: "I thought it's going to be easier
to get used to the new conditions and new balls, but it's been tricky today. I
know I kind of changed my mind after yesterday's press, but now I know that I
still have some things to figure out and I know what to focus on."