A second career Sunshine Double is not on the cards for Iga Swiatek this year, as she is now out of the 2024 Miami Open. The reigning Indian Wells Master winner was just eliminated by Ekaterina Alexandrova in what is one of the most surprising Miami Open 2024 results thus far.
Meanwhile, with Petra Kvitova facing a long spell on the sidelines because she is pregnant, it is guaranteed that we’ll have a new champion here in South Beach. And based on the SBOTOP Miami Open 2024 odds, we may have to keep an eye on the likes of Victoria Azarenka and Elena Rybakina.
Azarenka will attempt to add to her trophy case in Miami, and she looks on her way. On the other hand, Rybakina, who was in the final last season, is up for a tough challenge in the quarter-finals.
Alexandrova overpowers Swiatek in the Round of 16
Ekaterina Alexandrova scored her first career win over a world No. 1 on Monday, as she defeated Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-2.
Right from the get-go, the Russian international overpowered Swiatek from the service line and the baseline, breaking the Pole in the very first game and riding that break until she got the first set.
Alexandrova continued to overwhelm Swiatek with her power in the second set, reeling in five games in a row to open up a 5-1 lead. Swiatek made it 5-2, but Alexandrova held her nerve to avoid any potential comeback.
While both Alexandrova and Swiatek had 27 unforced errors each, the former had 31 winners compared to only 11 by the latter, which was the difference in the match. Alexandrova also never dropped serve and broke Swiatek three times.
“Second quarter-final here, second year in a row,” said Alexandrova. “Beating Iga after so many tries, and she’s No. 1. It’s the first time I beat a No. 1. All three things are very special to me.”
Perhaps fatigue got into Iga Swiatek because she had to come from a set down to beat Linda Noskova on Sunday.
However, despite the early exit, Swiatek will be listed as the top seed ahead of Roland Garros and leaves Miami with a huge lead over Aryna Sabalenka in the WTA rankings because the world No. 2 lost to Anhelina Kalinina in the Round of 32.
Ekaterina Alexandrova is set to take on world No. 5 Jessica Pegula next, who is fresh from a victory over Emma Navarro in straight sets.
Azarenka’s bid to win fourth Miami Open title is alive
Victoria Azarenka is into the Miami Open quarter-finals for the sixth time in her career after dispatching Katie Boulter 7-5, 6-1 on Monday.
After getting the lead early on, Azarenka was in danger of losing the first set since Boulter came back from 5-2 to 5-4. However, at 6-5, Azarenka converted her sixth set point to take the first set and never looked back.
At the start of the second set, Azarenka broke Boulter, which was followed by another break when Boulter had yet another poor service return.
Azarenka is now through to the quarter-finals, and she will face Yulia Putintseva, who comes in great form, fresh from a fourth-round run at Indian Wells. The Belarusian leads Putintseva 2-0 in their head-to-heads, and they last met in Doha in 2022.
Rybakina hungry to win in South Beach
Elena Rybakina is also through the final eight after beating world No. 17 Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5, which should give her a huge confidence boost, considering what happened in her previous matches. Before meeting Keys, Rybakina needed three sets to get past both Clara Tauson and Taylor Townsend.
The Kazakhstan international didn’t face a break point in the first set. Although she missed four chances to get the Keys serve across two games, Rybakina broke through at 5-3 to eventually win the opening set.
After leading 3-1 in the second set, Madison Keys attempted to make a comeback to get back on serve, but Elena Rybakina held her nerve through the remainder of the set and capitalised to break at 5-5.
Up next for Rybakina is Maria Sakkari, who is fresh from making it to the Indian Wells Masters finals. Sakkari advanced to her second Miami Open quarter-final with a walkover victory over the injured Anna Kalinskaya.
Rybakina and Sakkari have already met three times, with the former leading in their head-to-heads. These two WTA standouts last met in the 2023 WTA Finals Cancun group stage, where Rybakina came away with a 6-0, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) result.
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