Iga Swiatek stunned by Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets in round of 16 of Miami Open

World No. 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova has pulled off the upset of the tournament at this year’s Miami Open, taking out Iga Swiatek in the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 event on Monday night, 6-4, 6-2.

It was the 29-year-old's first career win over a world No. 1.

“I think tonight was amazing, and playing here in front of you was such a great pleasure,” she told the crowd in her on-court interview.

“I think I just tried to play every single point, right from the first one until the end one. I didn’t have any expectations before the match because I knew it was going to be an extremely difficult match, and we’d played so many times before, and every single time it was such a battle. It’s always so difficult to play against her.

“I just tried to do my best, and I think I did quite well.”

Alexandrova broke Swiatek in the very first game of the match and rode that break until she had the first set in her pocket, and after Swiatek held to open the second set the floodgates opened, as the world No. 16 reeled off five games in a row to open up a 5-1 lead.

Swiatek held to close the gap to 5-2, then Alexandrova served it out.

The final stats sheet told the story—they both finished with 27 unforced errors, but an ultra-aggressive Alexandrova finished the match with almost three times as many winners, 31 to 11.

She also never dropped serve, fighting off the only break point she faced all match—meanwhile, she broke Swiatek three times.

Going in, Alexandrova’s best career wins were two victories over world No. 2s in 2021, against Simona Halep in Melbourne in February and then Aryna Sabalenka indoors in Moscow in the fall.

She's also the first Top 20 player to defeat Swiatek since Veronika Kudermetova in Tokyo last September—Swiatek had won her last 15 matches in a row against Top 20 players since then.

Awaiting Alexandrova in the quarterfinals is Jessica Pegula, who won an all-American clash against Emma Navarro, 7-6 (1), 6-3.

Pegula won their only previous meeting in Rome in 2021, 6-2, 6-4.