Iga Świątek beat Caroline Garcia 6: 2, 7: 5 and advanced to the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami. Elise Mertens will be another rival of our tennis player in Florida.
Until last year, Belgian belonged to a small group of players from the top 100 rankings, which did not have the opportunity to fight on the court's court. It has changed almost 12 months agoWhen in April as part of the WTA 500 competition in Stuttgart, the ladies played in the second round.
It wasn't an easy match
Świątek won that meeting 6: 3, 6: 4, but it was not an easy performance for her. Already in the first game she had to defend herself twice before breaking, what she did, and then jumped back to 2: 0. Then she increased the advantage to 5: 1, but at that moment she lost the service and it was only 5: 3.
In the game of our tennis player we saw some deficiencies resulting from the circumstances. It was her first meeting at Mączka last year. Only a few days earlier she performed on the hard surface in match A representative with Switzerland, who gave the Polish women promotion to the finals of Billie Jean King Cup, and the runner -up of the Ranking Ranking Law of Start at the Olympic Games in Paris.
In this situation, Świątek had the right not to feel fully comfortable on earth. The more that Mertens is a recognized player – she has been in the top “50” women for eight years tennis in the single. At most 12. In the world, it came, among others to the Australian Open 2018 semi -finals or the quarter -finals US Open 2020. This is the former number one of the female doubles.
Belgian showed her skills in Stuttgart in the second set of competition with a Polish woman. Until the state of 3: 3, none of the tennis players could jump back, more long exchanges appeared, Mertens defended herself and contributes well.
Fight to the end. How will it be in Miami?
At the end of the favorite, however, she turned up the pace. She played more and more precisely. She exerted pressure on the rival's service, and she was losing to double service errors. However, it must be admitted that Mertens impressed the will of the fight.
She defended three match balls, and one of them in an impressive style. First, she received a difficult passage of Christmas played inside, then she saved after a few very strong games, ran like crazy from right to left, until she finally got a mistake of our player.
In the end, however, Iga Świątek closed the result, and the judge after 94 minutes announced her victory and promotion to the quarter -finals of the German tournament. This was not the perfect performance of the runner -up of the ranking, but considering the opponent class and the change of courts, the fans had no right to complain. How will it be in Miami?
Elise Mertens is set up in Florida with number 27 and managed to play one meeting with Peyton Stearns (6: 4, 6: 1). The nearest rival of Świątek is famous for its regularity, does not go below a certain level. This season, she reached the final of the WTA 250 in Hobart, where she lost to McCartney Kessler.
On Sunday, in favor of a Polish woman, the fact that her coach Wim Fissette knows her countryman Elise Mertens. His hints in the last match against Caroline Garcia helped our tennis player. Will it be similar in the third round duel in Miami?
In Stuttgart, the Belgian could not praise the Polish woman. – It is unbelievable how much she has already reached at the age of 22 (today is 23 years old – editor's note). In the future he will definitely win even more – she commented on the development of the career of Świątek.
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The beginning of the next match of Iga Świątek with Elise Mertens at 17:00 Polish time. Transmission in Canal+ Sport, report at Sport.pl. Better from this couple in the fourth round of the WTA 1000 event will go to Ukrainian Elina Switolina or Czeszka Karolina Muchova.