Miami Open: Iga Swiatek makes it to the Miami Open semis; Alexander defeated by Casper

The big surprise however came in the men’s game, as huge favorite and world number four Alexander Zverev, seeded second in the tournament, crashed out to the little favored Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Iga Swiatev was expected to breeze past her opponent and she did exactly that in fine style, extending her recent winning streak (including previous tournaments) to 15 straight wins. She was completely in control of the match throughout and utterly dominant, hardly stepping out of third gear but looking comfortably in control regardless throughout. The Polish second seed will now face the 15th seeded Pegula in the semis, another match up where she is the huge favorite to win, and advance to the final. She said after the game, “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.”

Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev looked uncharacteristically rusty and out of sorts, making multiple unforced errors, though credit must be given to his opponent who capitalized superbly on these and showed some flair of his own in a hard-fought 3 set win to claim the prize scalp of the second seed. Indeed, for the relatively lesser known Casper Ruud, it was a career best win over the world number four Zverev, wherein the Norwegian showed grit to hold some long baseline rallies mixed with intelligent aggression approaching the net in the final set.

He said after the game, “I didn’t hit any clean clean return winners but I was able to return a little bit deeper and make him play a little bit more from further behind in the court. A couple of breaks, a couple of points that can decide a match like this and today it went my way.” Casper Ruud now faces the even lesser fancied Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, who progressed thanks to his opponent withdrawing from their match with an injury. Indeed, this major upset has sent shock waves in the tennis scene, leaving the men’s tournament wide open. It is now anybody’s guess as to who will claim the title after one of the top favorites was eliminated in a major upset.