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Iga Swiatek acknowledged the Miami Open match against Linda Noskova was full of ups and downs and admitted there were moments when she felt there was a turning point but then something would happen again and make it complicated.
Swiatek, seeded at No. 1, entered her Miami match against world No. 31 Noskova as the big favorite despite losing to the 19-year-old Czech at the Australian Open this year. In the end, Swiatek did beat Noskova but she was made to work extremely hard before sealing a 6-7 (7) 6-4 6-4 third-round win.
In all three sets, Swiatek had big leads but Noskova would come back every time.
“Well, for sure it wasn’t like the match went one way from the beginning till the end. I know that I could stay more consistent with my level. Sometimes we have matches like that and we need to figure out how to close them anyway,” Swiatek said.
“I’m happy that I’m through to the next round. Yeah, for sure it wasn’t easy. There were just many ups and downs. Yeah, I’m happy that after first set I had better idea on what to do, and I just tried to do that in important moments.”
Swiatek on if she felt there was a turning point
In the first set, Swiatek led 5-2 and everything was pointing toward the Pole easily winning the first set. But then, Noskova got the break back – saved a set point in the tie-break – and realized her second set point to go up by a set.
Down by a set, Swiatek bounced back by opening a dominant 5-1 second-set lead. But then, Swiatek failed to serve out for the set in the eighth game. Then, Swiatek found herself on the verge of also failing to serve out for the set in her second attempt but luckily she managed to save a break point in the 10th game before converting her first set point.
In the decider, Swiatek was serving for the match at 5-4 when Noskova earned three consecutive break points – those were the Czech’s first break point in the set. Luckily for Swiatek, she dug herself out of that situation and closed out the match.
When asked if she felt there was a turning point during the match, Swiatek candidly said there were many actually.
“Well, I did, and then it turned again (smiling),” Swiatek answered.
“As I said at the beginning, a lot of ups and downs. Usually I’m able to keep my intensity and keep my level throughout the whole match, but it’s not going to come every day.
“Yeah, I felt some moments like that. But I know that Linda is the kind of player that can just really go for it. She’s pretty powerful then.
“Sorry, I don’t know how to answer that more.”
Swiatek hopes to quickly move on from what happened against Noskova
Today, Swiatek will return to the court for her Miami round-of-16 match against No. 14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 3-6 6-3.
When Swiatek, 22, and 29-year-old Alexandrova meet, it will be their fifth meeting and also their second meeting in 2024. In their last meeting – which came in February – Swiatek crushed Alexandrova 6-1 6-4 en route to winning a WTA 1000 tournament in Doha.
When it comes to their first three meetings, Alexandrova defeated Swiatek when they met at a WTA tournament in Melbourne in 2021. The following year, Swiatek got her revenge over Alexandrova by beating the Russian in Cincinnati and the Pole also claimed a win in their 2023 Madrid match.
After a turbulent match against Noskova, Swiatek was asked if she would try to “mull it over” before facing Alexandrova. The 22-year-old Pole suggested that she will just “try to let it go” and added that she is optimistic that the same won’t happen against Alexandrova.
“No, there’s no sense for me to do that. You know that I’m an over-thinker. Usually the best tactic for me is to let it go,” Swiatek said.
“Yeah, as I said, I want to use this experience. I’m pretty sure tomorrow I’m going to do that if everything goes well. Usually also these kind of things just settle in my head on their own. I’m just going to trust that it’s going to be like that again.
“For sure I know tomorrow what to focus on a little bit more, and I’m going to do that during the match. Right now it doesn’t make sense to overanalyze it.”
If Swiatek beats Alexandrova and reaches the quarterfinal, she will be three wins away from collecting her second Miami title.
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