Swiatek sweeps past Osaka to win Miami Open

Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates with the Butch Buchholz Trophy after defeating Naomi Osaka (left) of Japan in the final of the Miami Open in Miami Gardens, Florida, yesterday. (AFP)

Iga Swiatek’s dream season continued as the incoming world number one scooped her third successive WTA 1000 title to beat Naomi Osaka in the Miami Open final yesterday.The Polish 20-year-old has now become only the fourth — and youngest — player to win the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami in the same year following Steffi Graf, Kim Cljisters and Victoria Azarenka.Swiatek, who will be formally confirmed as world number one when the new WTA rankings are announced tomorrow, has now won 17 straight games, a winning streak that includes titles in Doha, Indian Wells and now Miami. “When I was watching Naomi win the US Open, I never thought a few years later I would be playing her in the final,” said a delighted Swiatek, who is also the only woman ever to win the first three major WTA tour events of the year.Osaka, 24, enjoyed a welcome return to form in Florida even if the four-time Grand Slam champion’s first final since the Australian Open in 2021 ended in a comprehensive 6-4, 6-0 defeat. Swiatek headed into a sixth career final on the back of 16 straight wins — the last player to win 16 or more in a row was Osaka who was on fire between Cincinnati in 2020 and last year’s Miami Open.Their only previous meeting in 2019 ended with a straight sets win for Osaka over an 18-year-old Swiatek. Osaka has been serving well this tournament and hit an impressive 18 aces in her semi-final win over Belinda Bencic but was broken by Swiatek to make it 3-2 in the first and began to look susceptible.The former French Open champion is one of the finest returners in the women’s game and even though Osaka was attempting to aggressively jump upon Swiatek’s second serve, her opponent was far more consistent and clinical overall.A break of the Osaka serve right at the start of the second saw any lingering hopes for the Japanese melt in the Miami sunshine and Swiatek easily moved through the gears to land her sixth career title amid joyous scenes at Hard Rock Stadium.Ruud powers past Cerundolo to set title clash with AlcarazCarlos Alcaraz is one win away from creating Miami Open history after defeating defending champion Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets to book a final date today with Norway’s Casper Ruud. The 18-year-old Spanish sensation brought the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium to their feet for the second night in succession following his dramatic quarter-final win over Miomir Kecmanovic on Thursday night as he saw off 10th-ranked Hurkacz of Poland 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/2) to reach his first ATP Masters final.If he triumphs this weekend, Alcaraz, who made the last four in Indian Wells earlier this month, will become the youngest champion in the tournament’s 37-year history. Only two men have won titles at this level at a younger age — Michael Chang (1990, Toronto) and Rafael Nadal (2005, Monte Carlo) were both 18 on their first triumphs. Alcaraz turns 19 next month.World number eight Ruud, meanwhile, is the first Norwegian to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final and surely one of the only top men’s tennis players to have an Instagram account devoted solely to his golfing skills. Ruud’s clash with the 2021 ATP Next Gen champion will be the biggest match of his career.His first Masters 1000 final comes after three semi-final defeats at the level. He overpowered Cerundolo, making his first appearance at the elite Masters level, 6-4, 6-1.