MIAMI World No. 1 Iga Swiatek played down talks of a "Sunshine Double", saying she takes nothing for granted after navigating through a "tricky" match to beat the 31st-ranked Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-4 at the Miami Open on March 24.
A day after Swiatek's closest challenger, Aryna Sabalenka, was knocked out of the tournament, the Pole faced a stern test from Noskova.
The Czech had upset Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open before the four-time Grand Slam winner gained revenge at Indian Wells. The third meeting in 2024 between the pair was, not surprisingly, a tight affair.
Having worked hard to recover from her opening-set tiebreak loss and taken the match into a deciding frame, Swiatek found herself facing three break points when serving for the match at 5-4.
However, she stepped up her game to win the next five points and celebrated with a fist-pumping gesture to her box.
"It wasn't easy... it's been tricky today. There were just many ups and downs," she said.
"I'm happy that after first set I had better idea on what to do, and I just tried to do that in important moments.
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