No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek reached the last 16 of a WTA 1000 event for a record 25th consecutive time with a 7-6(2), 6-1 defeat of No. 27 seed Elise Mertens in the Miami Open third round.

Miami: Scores | Draws | Order of play

The Pole has not lost before the last 16 at this level since Cincinnati 2021, where she lost her second-round opener (following a bye) to Ons Jabeur. The second-most consecutive last-16 appearances in WTA 1000 tournaments is 18, tallied by Maria Sharapova between Indian Wells 2011 and Rome 2013 inclusive.

As in her previous match against Caroline Garcia, Swiatek did not have a straightforward ride. From 5-2 up in the first set, she was pegged back to 5-5 by Mertens, who won her ninth career title in Singapore last month. However, Swiatek took control by dominating the ensuing tiebreak, then rolled through the second set.

Two days previously, Swiatek had attributed her minor struggles against Garcia to an energy dip. On Sunday, the issue was her serve. In the first set, the 2022 champion only won 43% of the points behind her second serve, which allowed Mertens to get on the front foot and deliver pinpoint down-the-line winners. In the second, Swiatek solved the problem by raising her first-serve percentage from 60% to 79%, missing only four of her first deliveries.

“In the first set, my serve wasn’t working perfectly,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “I’m glad I was patient enough to just work for it, and in the second set I felt much better.”

Swiatek will bid to reach her second Miami quarterfinal against No. 22 seed Elina Svitolina, who came through 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 over No. 15 seed Karolina Muchova. The Ukrainian now owns a 3-0 record against Muchova, having also defeated her twice in 2019. Swiatek leads her-head-to-head against Svitolina 2-1, including their only previous hard-court meeting in the third round of Dubai last year.

More to come…