Swiatek marches into semis, Ruud upsets Zverev

Poland’s Iga Swiatek continued her terrific run with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Petra Kvitova on Wednesday to reach the Miami Open semifinals, while Norway’s Casper Ruud upset men’s second seed Alexander Zverev in their quarter-final clash.

Swiatek, who came to Miami full of confidence after claiming back-toback titles at Doha and Indian Wells, pressured twice Wimbledon champion Kvitova’s serve throughout the 77-minute match and never faced a break point. The Polish second seed, who will take over the world number one ranking next week, has now won 15 consecutive matches dating back to Qatar and will next face 16th seed Jessica Pegula.

The other women’s semifinal is Thursday afternoon, when No. 22 Belinda Bencic will face unseeded Naomi Osaka. Ruud beat an ailing No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Pegula has played four matches so far in this tournament, needing only 5 1/2 sets to record those victories. She had a firstround bye, won her next two matches in straight sets and her fourth-round match ended when unseeded Anhelina Kalinina retired after Pegula won the first set 6-0.

Then came Wednesday, when Badosa bowed out down 4-1.“Of course, it’s not nice to win that way,” Pegula said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever even hit with her at all and I was really looking forward to playing because she’s been having an amazing year.”

After Zverev levelled the match, it was Ruud who was the aggressor in the decider as he frequently approached the net with great success, held tough during baseline rallies and limited his unforced errors. “I didn’t hit any clean return winners but I was able to return a little bit deeper and make him play a little bit more from further behind in the court,” said Ruud, who failed to win a set in two previous meetings against Zverev.

In the late men’s quarterfinal, sixth-seeded Casper Ruud earned a semifinal matchup with Cerundolo.