Swiatek comes back to beat Noskova and advance to Miami Round of 16

MIAMI -- World No.1 Iga Swiatek's bid to sweep the Sunshine Double continues at the Miami Open after the Polish star held on to defeat No.31 Linda Noskova 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4 in the third round on Sunday night. The win is Swiatek's first comeback win from a set down this season. 

In the third meeting between the two this season, Swiatek came from a set down to improve her head-to-head to 3-1 over the 19-year-old Czech. Earlier this season, Noskova stunned Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open en route to her first major quarterfinal. 

The 2-hour and 33-minute victory improved Swiatek's tour-leading record to 22-2 this season. Noskova dropped to 12-6.

"As you can see, it's not like we can take everything for granted," Swiatek said. "You can be in trouble at the early stages of the tournament. No sense to talk about Sunshine Double.

"For sure I'm taking just experience from this match and I know what I have to focus on little bit more because it wasn't like I felt 100 percent comfortable all the time. I mean, I thought it's going to be easier to get used to the new conditions and new balls, but it's been tricky today."

Coming off her victory at the BNP Paribas Open last week, Swiatek is bidding to become the second woman to sweep the Sunshine Double twice. Stefanie Graf is the only woman to complete the feat so far, winning Indian Wells and Miami in 1994 and 1996. Swiatek swept the back-to-back WTA 1000s during her historic 37-match win streak in 2022. 

Noskova fought off an early lead by Swiatek, wiping out a set point to win a tightly-contested first-set tiebreak. Serving up 6-5 in the tiebreak, Swiatek set up a short forehand but pushed the ball beyond the baseline with her 20th unforced error keep Noskova in the set. After Swiatek saved a set point with a clean backhand winner, Noskova converted her second chance with a looping forehand that Swiatek helplessly watched drop inside the sideline.

Swiatek stormed back immediately in the second set, racing to a seemingly safe 5-1 lead. But the Pole's precision game remained shakey. Noskova reeled off three consecutive games and earned a break point to level to 5-5. But Swiatek saved set point to hold and force the match into a deciding frame. 

The opening games of the final set remained close. Noskova escaped Swiatek's early return pressure, saving break point to hold to 1-0. But a double-fault at 2-2 gave Swiatek her second break point of the game and she converted as Noskova flew a forehand long.

Noskova made one final push. With Swiatek serving to close out the win at 5-4, the Czech earned triple break point with a clean forehand winner. The World No.1 responded with class, striking three clean winners to get to deuce and closed out the match on her first match point.  

Swiatek will have a quick turnaround, but the 22-year-old is keen to move on from her up-and-down performance.

"You know that I'm an over-thinker," Swiatek said. "Usually the best tactic for me is to let it go. I want to use this experience. I'm pretty sure tomorrow I'm going to do that if everything goes well. Usually also these kind of things just settle in my head on their own. I'm just going to trust that it's going to be like that again."

Swiatek will face 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the Round of 16 on Monday. Alexandrova advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Swiatek leads the head-to-head 3-1.