World No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek continued her dominant form, securing her place in the last 16 of a WTA 1000 tournament for an unprecedented 25th time in a row. She achieved this milestone by defeating No. 27 seed Elise Mertens in the Miami Open third round, with a score of 7-6(2), 6-1.
Swiatek`s consistent performance at this level is remarkable. Her last loss before the round of 16 in a WTA 1000 event was at Cincinnati in 2021. Before that, Maria Sharapova held the record for consecutive last-16 appearances at WTA 1000 tournaments with 18, achieved between Indian Wells 2011 and Rome 2013.
Similar to her previous match against Caroline Garcia, Swiatek faced some challenges. Despite leading 5-2 in the first set, Mertens, who recently won a title in Singapore, fought back to level the score at 5-5. However, Swiatek regained control, winning the tiebreak decisively and then dominating the second set.
Swiatek had mentioned a dip in energy as a factor in her previous match. In this match, her serve was the main issue in the first set. She only won 43% of points on her second serve, allowing Mertens to attack and hit effective winners. In the second set, Swiatek improved her serve significantly, increasing her first-serve percentage from 60% to 79% and minimizing errors.
In her post-match interview, Swiatek commented, `In the first set, my serve wasn`t working perfectly. I`m happy that I remained patient and worked through it, and I felt much better in the second set.`
Looking ahead, Swiatek will compete for a spot in the Miami quarterfinals against No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina. Svitolina advanced by defeating No. 15 seed Karolina Muchova in three sets. Svitolina has a perfect 3-0 record against Muchova. Swiatek holds a 2-1 head-to-head advantage over Svitolina, including a win in their only previous hard-court match at Dubai last year.
