Swiatek Wins 15th Straight, Reaches Miami SF; Pegula Gets Retirement From Badosa

Iga Swiatek rolled into another semifinal — her 5th already of 22 — cruising past 2-time Slam winner Petra Kivotva 6-3, 6-3 at the Miami Masters.

Swiatek has now won her last 15 matches which includes titles at Doha and Indian Wells, and she’ll be No. 1 next Monday.

Swiatek broke for 4-2 in the first and then 3-2 in the second.

“I want to use the confidence that I built since the beginning of Doha,” Swiatek said. “I think I’m on a roll and I want to use that. Having that kind of streak got pretty tricky, but I’m pretty glad that I could play well, that I’m healthy, and that I can compete against players like Petra. She’s a legend.

“From the beginning, I knew that I had to keep up with the pace because she plays really fast,” she added. “I wanted to stay low on my legs and the first serve was the key. I don’t know if I had many winners, but I wanted to build up positive energy from her mistakes. I’m glad that I stayed focused and I did the tactics from A to Z.”

Swiatek will now face Jessica Pegula who advanced to her biggest semifinal, getting a retirement from Paula Badosa who was too ill to continue down 4-1.

“I think from her last match I could tell that she probably wasn’t going to be 100% by today,” said Pegula who also got a retirement win in her fourth round. “I have no idea what happened or how she was feeling or if she recovered or if it was quick. It’s just hard to know in those situations. It can be kind of awkward.

“I didn’t really notice that much. I was trying to focus on my side. She broke me first game, and she hit a winner. She’s, like, Come on. I was, like, Okay, this isn’t going to just be another match.

“But I just tried to refocus on myself, and I don’t think I really thought she was going to retire, like maybe not that quickly, maybe a set or, if anything, but not that soon.”

Pegula beat Swiatek in their only meeting at 2019 Washington D.C.

Also tomorrow, in the first semifinal gold medalist Belinda Bencic will battle Naomi Osaka. Bencic leads 3-1.

“I haven’t played her now in a longer time,” said Bencic. “The last time was US Open 2019, if I remember correctly. Definitely in that year I felt great playing against her. Somehow it was my form, as well, but also the matchup, I guess, your opponent plays always as good as you let her.”

None of the four players have dropped a set en route to the last four.

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