Swiatek bests Kvitova for 15th straight win, into Miami Open semifinals

No.2 seed Iga Swiatek notched her 15th consecutive win to advance to the Miami Open semifinals, defeating No.28 seed Petra Kvitova, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. The 20-year-old is into her tour-leading fifth semifinal of the season and third straight at the WTA 1000 level. 

Swiatek joins Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, and Jelena Ostapenko as the only players to have made four or more WTA 1000 semifinals before their 21st birthdays. The Polish star, who is set to rise to World No.1 after Miami, will face 16th seed Jessica Pegula on Friday night for a spot in her third consecutive WTA 1000 final. 

Swiatek's run to her first Miami semifinal has been nothing short of dominant. Coming off her back-to-back titles in Doha and Indian Wells, Swiatek has lost a total of 15 games over four matches and has not dropped more than three games in a set in Miami. Her victory over Kvitova was her tour-leading 24th of the season (24-3). 

"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."

In the first meeting between the pair, Swiatek absorbed Kvitova's baseline power game while proving herself to be unbreakable on the night. In a match of slim margins, Swiatek's sublime return game continued to wreak havoc. Entering Miami, Swiatek led the Hologic WTA Tour in Return Points Won (50.9%) and Return Games Won (53.5%). In Miami, she has broken in over 58% of her return games. 

After a strong start to the match, it took just one poor service game from Kvitova to give Swiatek all she needed to pocket the opening set. Kvitova hit 11 winners to 7 unforced errors compared to Swiatek's 6 winners and 3 unforced errors in the first set, but it was Swiatek who converted the only break point of the set. Serving at 2-3, Kvitova misfired to fall behind 15-40 and Swiatek immediately converted to break. Swiatek rolled through her service games to take it after 37 minutes. 

Swiatek continued to pressure Kvitova's serve through the second set. The Czech, who was playing her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of the season and 33rd overall, buckled down to save four break points to hold 2-1. But Swiatek would break through two games later, breaking on her fifth break point of the set for a 3-2 lead. Swiatek went on to grab a third and final break after 1 hour and 17 minutes to seal her eighth consecutive win over a left-handed opponent.

Both players finished the match with a positive differential, with Kvitova hitting 19 winners to 16 unforced errors and Swiatek hitting 8 winners to 7 unforced errors. But Swiatek's ability to break proved the difference, as Kvitova was unable to generate any break points in the match. 

"From the beginning, I knew that I had to keep up with the pace because she plays really fast," Swiatek said. "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."