Miami Open: Ekaterina Alexandrova Executes Martina Navratilova’s Plan to Perfection to End Iga Swiatek’s Sunshine Double Hopes

Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek had shown complete and utter dominance against her opponents in the Indian Wells Masters but couldn’t manage to continue her winning streak in the Miami Open. She lost against Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets as the player went all guns blazing. Well, from Alexandrova’s revelation, she seems to take the match nothing less than a “battle”.

Before the Miami Open commenced, Martina Navratilova shared her thoughts on how a player could beat Swiatek. Alexandrova was very well prepared as it is always “difficult to play against” Swiatek, the four-time grand slam champion.

Ekaterina Alexandrova knew that the match with Iga Swiatek “would be extremely difficult”ADVERTISEMENT

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After the match, Alexandrova smiled and talked about how she managed to beat her goliath – “I just tried to play every point right from the first one till the last one. I didn’t have any expectations before the match because I knew it would be extremely difficult. We played so many times before. Every time we’ve played, it was such a battle & it was difficult to play against her. I just went on the court and tried to do my best. I think I did quite well.”

Ekaterina Alexandrova after beating Iga Swiatek in Miami:

“I just tried to play every point right from the first one til the last one. I didn’t have any expectations before the match because I knew it would be extremely difficult. We played so many times before. Every time we’ve… pic.twitter.com/JY9r99Rqx2

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 26, 2024

Alexandrova has never fared well against Swiatek. Before their clash in the Miami Open, Swiatek has always managed to overcome the Russian 29-year-old. However, Alexandrova found her form in their fourth match and beat the WTA number 1 for the first time in her career.

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The Russian star managed to beat Swiatek after Navratilova shared her strategy for beating her. Alexandrova was easily able to apply it to her favor and now owes a lot to Navratilova.

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Alexandrova used Navratilova’s strategy to beat SwiatekAs the WTA icon Martina Navratilova saw the four-time grand slam champion viciously beat players at Indian Wells, she understood there was only one method for players to beat her. According to Navratilova, players should battle their hardest throughout the opening four games of a match.

As Navratilova has said – “She’s a great frontrunner. That’s when the players need to stay close to her at the beginning of the match. Once she really gets going, it’s really hard to stop her momentum, and she grows in confidence, and she covers the court so well.”

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Alexandrova did just that. She got a hold of the game earlier in both sets and shut down Swiatek. Navratilova’s words proved to be extremely useful for her as she can hold a rank 1 victory in her records. Now, she will play against Jessica Pegula, hoping to reach the semifinal in Miami once again.