The euphoria does not fall for the Polish Iga Swiatek, who will officially reach the top of the WTA rankings on Monday thanks to the retirement of Australian Ashleigh Barty.
Her authoritative 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Czech Petra Kvitova (32nd in the world) is her 15th in a row, after her titles in Doha and Indian Wells.
The one who has not conceded more than three games in all sets played in Florida, has never offered the slightest break point to Kvitova, converting for her part three of the seven she has procured.
Still in the race for the "
sunshine double
" (doubled IW / Miami), Swiatek will be opposed Thursday to Jessica Pegula (21st).
The other half will oppose the Japanese Naomi Osaka (77th) to the Swiss Belinda Bencic (28th).
The 28-year-old American only spent twenty minutes on the court.
She was leading 4-1, when Badosa (6th) had to give up, unable to suppress a few tears.
“
It's not nice to win like that, I was really looking forward to playing against her, she had an incredible year.
But she didn't look good
,” Pegula reacted.
Badosa "
sorry
"
“
I'm sorry I had to give up today.
I have been battling illness since my previous match.
I tried everything to recover but it wasn't enough
,” Badosa tweeted later.
On Monday, she had indeed already seemed in physical difficulty, during her victory in the 8th against the young Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, admitting afterwards to having "
felt bad as soon as she woke
up" that morning.
"
I kept fighting, but I really don't know how I won
," she added.
Semi-finalist in Indian Wells ten days ago, the Spaniard could hope to reach the 2nd rank in the world if she reached the semi-finals in Florida.
Instead, she will still be ranked 3rd on Monday.
In men, Casper Ruud (8th) made a strong impression, beating 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 Alexander Zverev (4th).
Very offensive, the Norwegian often attacked the net, relying on his excellent serve and his formidable forehand, often outflanking his opponent who had beaten him in their first two confrontations, already in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati and Paris last year.
Apart from a slump in the second set, after which he had his right foot treated, Ruud, in search of an 8th title on the ATP circuit, has never been worried by Zverev.
sinner whistled
The Norwegian, who had never passed the 1st round of this event in two participations until then, therefore reached the last four where he will be opposed to the sensation Francisco Cerundolo (103rd in the world).
Almost unknown on the ATP circuit, the Argentinian, who is playing his first Masters 1000, did not have to work too hard against Jannik Sinner (11th).
He was also leading 4-1 when the Italian, finalist last year, decided to stop his match after 23 minutes, hampered by a blister on his foot, without calling the physiotherapist.
Which earned him the whistles of the public.
The course of the Italian in Miami was certainly not easy.
He had saved several match points in his first two rounds against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (71st) and the Spaniard Pablo Carreno (19th), before dismissing the Australian Nick Kyrgios more calmly, against whom he had ... forfeited two weeks ago before their shift in Indian Wells because he was sick.
Cerundolo, semi-finalist in Rio de Janeiro in mid-February, and whose best performance on the ATP circuit was a final at the Buenos Aires tournament last year (lost to his compatriot Diego Schwartzman), therefore continues his dream career in Florida, where he successively triumphed over American Reilly Opelka (18th), Frenchman Gaël Monfils (24th) and American Frances Tiafoe (31st).
