Iga Swiatek steamroller reaches Miami Open final as she admits she is ‘excited’ about facing Naomi Osaka

WTA Tour

Shahida Jacobs
April 1, 2022

She is looking forward to taking on four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka in the final of the Miami Open, but Iga Swiatek insists she will “treat it like any other match”.

Swiatek remains on course for a third straight WTA 1000 title after she held off Jessica Pegula in the semi-final, claiming a 6-2, 7-5 win in one hour and 48 minutes to stretch her unbeaten run to 16 matches.

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🇵🇱 @iga_swiatek sets up a #MiamiOpen final against Osaka with her 16th CONSECUTIVE win on Tour! pic.twitter.com/hEMfvUbkw2

— wta (@WTA) April 1, 2022

The world No 2 broke in an elongated third game that had six deuces as she edged 2-1 ahead. Pegula struggled to hold serve as she again had to save three break points in game five before Swiatek broke again in game seven.

The second set was more even as Swiatek broke in game four, but it was the start of seven breaks in eight games.

The American saved two match points in game 10 as she drew level to go 5-5, but was then broken to love in the next game before Swiatek served it out.

Iga Swiatek becomes the 9th player to reach back-to-back finals at Indian Wells and Miami in the same year.

She is the 5th player to do so before her 21st birthday. #MiamiOpen https://t.co/kHg2Rrp8oa

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) April 1, 2022

The 20-year-old is now just one win away from following up her Doha and Indian Wells titles with a third WTA 1000 trophy at the Miami Open.

She will face former world No 1 Osaka in the final after the Japanese star beat Belinda Bencic.

“I am excited for sure [about facing Osaka in the final], but on the other hand for me, the most important job is this is a match like any other,” Swiatek said.

“I don’t want to change my routines, I don’t want to change my attitude, because it’s been working out pretty well. I’m going to treat it like any other match.”

It will be their second match on the WTA with Osaka winning their only other encounter in Toronto in 2019.

She added: “My second match on the WTA Tour, when I felt I am doing a breakthrough, was against her (Osaka).

“Even though I lost that match, it inspired me to work harder because she was number one back then. Right now I feel like I am on a different level, so I can actually compete … We’ll see how it is going to go. I’m really excited.”

Iga Swiatek Jessica Pegula Naomi Osaka