She’s No. 1: Swiatek downs Osaka 6-4, 6-0 to win Miami Open

Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP) — Iga Swiatek ended her journey to the women’s No. 1 ranking in fitting fashion.

Swiatek continued her searing start to 2022 on Saturday, beating Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-0 to win the women’s title at the Miami Open and extend her winning streak to 17 matches.Swiatek, who will replace the now-retired Ashleigh Barty at No. 1 in the women’s rankings officially when the points are updated Monday, also completed the so-called Sunshine Double — winning both Indian Wells and Miami.

She’s the fourth woman to do so, joining Victoria Azarenka (2016), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Steffi Graf (1994 and 1996). “This tournament has so much energy,” Swiatek said.

Swiatek’s homeland is Poland, which has seen more than 2 million people enter from war-torn Ukraine in recent weeks.

Swiatek took a moment during her trophy ceremony to acknowledge that those refugees are on her mind. “As I was doing in my previous speeches at Doha and Indian Wells, I want to say to Ukraine to stay strong,” Swiatek said.

“Everything’s going to get better.” Swiatek broke Osaka for a 3-2 lead in the first set, hanging on from there to win a 52-minute slugfest that saw the opening game — on Osaka’s serve — feature seven deuces and go for 10 minutes. The second set was a completely different story. Break, hold, break, hold, break, hold and that was that, as Swiatek finished off her ninth consecutive straightsets victory.

It was her third title of 2022 and her sixth consecutive win in a final, a streak that started at the delayed French Open in 2020. Swiatek, who never faced a single break point, earned $1,231,245 for the win. Osaka earned $646,110 for making the final.

Osaka came into the tournament ranked No. 77 in the world, though certainly didn’t play like there are 76 better women out there on tour right now — beating seeded players in Angelique Kerber, Danielle Collins and Belinda Bencic on her way to the final.