(Reuters) – Poland’s Iga Swiatek kept her remarkable 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.
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%.
The former French Open champion raised her level in the second where she broke Osaka three times to race out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back as she sealed the 79-minute match on her first championship point when Osaka sent a forehand wide.
Swiatek is the first women to complete the “Sunshine Double” since Victoria Azarenka in 2016. Kim Clijsters (2005) and Steffi Graf (1994, 1996) are the other women to accomplish the feat.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
