AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)

Second seed Iga Swiatek will face Naomi Osaka for the Miami Open title after the Pole defeated American Jessica Pegula in Thursday’s semi-finals.

After Japan’s Osaka battled past Belinda Bencic 4-6 6-3 6-4 earlier in the day, Swiatek, who will become world number one on Monday, claimed her 16th straight win with a 6-2 7-5 victory over Pegula to reach a third straight WTA 1000 final.

Swiatek sailed through the opening set but had to fight back from an early break down in the second. She squandered two match points at 5-4 before sealing victory two games later.

The 21-year-old is the first player to make back-to-back finals at Indian Wells and Miami since Victoria Azarenka won the ‘Sunshine Double’ in 2016.

Swiatek has faced Osaka only once, with the Japanese player winning in straight sets at Toronto in 2019.

“My second match on the WTA Tour, when I felt I am doing a breakthrough, was against her (Osaka),” said Swiatek, who will go top of the rankings following Ash Barty’s retirement.

“Even though I lost that match, it inspired me to work harder because she was number one back then. Right now I feel like I am on a different level, so I can actually compete … We’ll see how it is going to go. I’m really excited.”

Osaka overcomes bencic

Four-times Grand Slam winner Osaka fired off 18 aces as shedefeated Olympic champion Bencic to reach her first Miami Open final.

Naomi Osaka’s Indian Wells ends in tears

Osaka conceded only two first-serve points in the first set but was unable to convert when it counted as Bencic saved a pair of break points in the second game.

Osaka, who had not dropped a set in the tournament, then lost her serve in the third game and again in the fifth.

The pair traded breaks early in the second set before Osaka seized the momentum after breaking in the sixth game.

“She had a really amazing service return - there were times I thought that I hit great serves but she just hit winners,” Osaka said.

“(I was) just battling my inner thoughts and trying to know that I must play one point at a time and adjust if I have to but try not to overwhelm myself with my thoughts.”

Osaka saved five of six break points in the third before closing out the match with an ace and a grin, having reached her first final since her second Australian Open title a year ago.

“I feel like if I was negative for a split second I would have lost the match today,” said Osaka, who will play in her fourth WTA 1000 showpiece match on Saturday.

“I have to keep pumping myself up and I haven’t played as many matches as a lot of these other players so I just have to keep learning.”

Comments

Comments are closed.