MIAMI (Reuters) - Poland’s Iga Swiatek will take over the world number one ranking in style as she kept her remarkable winning run intact with a 6-4 6-0 win over Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the Miami Open final on Saturday.
The Polish second seed, who will take over the world number one ranking next week, did not drop a set in Miami and has now won 17 consecutive matches dating back to her championship run at the Qatar Open in February.
With the victory, the 20-year-old Swiatek becomes only the fourth woman to win the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments back-to-back, a feat known as the “Sunshine Double” given the tournaments’ respective locations in California and Florida.
“These weeks were so intense I didn’t really know if I would able to keep up with the streak that I have,” said Swiatek, who also became the first woman to win the opening three WTA 1000 tournaments in a season.
The two players wasted no time getting into the heat of the battle as the match began with a wild seven-deuce opening game during which four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka saved two break points and fired down four aces to hold serve.
The match remained on serve until Swiatek broke Osaka when she ripped a brilliant crosscourt backhand winner to go ahead 3-2 and then went on to close out the first set without facing a break point despite serving under 40 percent.