Miami, March 25 World No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland moved a step closer to her first title of the year with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the Round of 16 at the Miami Open.
Swiatek needed 2 hours and 5 minutes to battle past former World No. 3 Svitolina, completing the quarterfinal lineup at the year's fourth WTA 1000 event on Tuesday morning, WTA reports.
Swiatek is eyeing her second Miami Open title -- she won this event in 2022 to complete the Sunshine Double (winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year). The only other women to complete the Sunshine Double are Stefanie Graf (twice), Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka.
Swiatek will now face an unexpected opponent in the quarterfinals: 19-year-old wild card Alexandra Eala of Philippines, who is in her sixth WTA 1000 event
Eala moved into the first WTA Tour quarterfinal of her career when her fourth-round opponent, No. 10 seed Paula Badosa, withdrew in advance of their match due to a lower back injury.
World No. 140 Eala had a breakthrough win over No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko in the second round and an even bigger win over No. 5 Madison Keys in the third round.
With those wins, Eala became the first Filipina woman in the Open Era to defeat Grand Slam singles champions at any WTA Tour event -- and now she will play another in five-time major champion Swiatek.
The 19-year-old Eala, the junior US Open champion in 2022, had never previously won three consecutive matches at any tour-level event prior to this tournament -- though the walkover from Badosa will not count towards her overall win-loss record.
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