Swiatek sets up Miami Open final against Osaka

Second seed Iga Swiatek will face Naomi Osaka for the Miami Open title after the Pole defeated American Jessica Pegula in Thursday’s semifinals. Daniil Medvedev said physical struggles destroyed any chance of a victory to reclaim the world number one ranking on Friday after falling to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 at the Miami Open.

Medvedev dropped to second with a third-round loss to Gael Monfils at Indian Wells last week, but would have taken back the top spot from Serbia’s Novak Djokovic had he defeated Hurkacz, the defending Miami Open champion. After Japan’s Osaka battled past Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-,3 6-4 earlier in the day, Swiatek, who will become world number one on Monday, claimed her 16th straight win with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Pegula to reach a third straight WTA 1000 final. Swiatek sailed t h r o u g h t h e opening set but had to fight back from an early break down in the second.

S h e squandered two match points at 5-4 before sealing victory two games later. “Every muscle just went ‘cramp, cramp, cramp, cramp,’” Medvedev said. “I was like a fish on the sofa.” “I was returning pretty well, I was putting some pressure on his serves and that was h e l p i n g my game,” Hurkacz said.

“I was able to get some free points on my serve and that was pretty big.” Hurkacz, who is from Poland, will next meet either No. 14 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain or unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the semifinals. Kecmanovic and Alcaraz play in the last quarterfinal later Thursday.

“My second match on the WTA Tour, when I felt I am doing a breakthrough, was against her (Osaka),” said Swiatek, who will go top of the rankings following Ash Barty’s retirement. Even though I lost that match, it inspired me to work harder because she was number one back then. Right now I feel like I am on a different level, so I can actually compete ... We’ll see how it is going to go. I’m really excited.”