Swiatek, Gauff dumped in Miami fourth round

Iga Swiatek's hopes of completing another 'Sunshine Double' were dashed on Monday when she lost 6-4, 6-2 in the fourth round to Ekaterina Alexandrova, joining third seed Coco Gauff in exiting from the Miami Open early.

Swiatek, who won the first leg of the Sunshine Double at Indian Wells earlier this month, was completely outplayed by the Russian world number 16, who claimed her career-best victory.

"I just went out on the court and did my best, I think it went quite well," said Alexandrova.

Swiatek, the top seed who won the Sunshine Double in 2022, never broke Alexandrova's serve and was no match for her powerful and precise groundstrokes under the lights in South Florida.

Alexandrova, seeded 14th, will next face fifth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals, after she defeated fellow American Emma Navarro 7-6(1), 6-3.

Caroline Garcia's serve was clicking early in her match against Gauff, and she never faced a break point in the first set before the American raised her game to level the score at one set apiece.

In the first game of the deciding set, Garcia held serve against four break points before breaking at love to take a 2-0 lead over her 20-year-old opponent.

"I think I stayed positive and optimistic about my serve," Garcia said about the five break points she saved.

"The first game of the third set was quite important for me and maybe for her also and I got a little bit lucky because my forehand was catching the line but also I went for it, so maybe it's my reward."

Garcia will next face American Danielle Collins, who defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-2.

Fourth seed Elena Rybakina defeated Madison Keys 6-3 7-5 to advance to the quarter-finals, where she will face a rested Maria Sakkari, the Greek eighth seed who received a walkover.

Rybakina was more efficient than Keys, winning slightly more than 80% of her first serve points and converting three of her eight break points during the 84-minute match.

"Really happy with my performance today," Kazakhstan's Rybakina said in her on-court interview. "It was a tough one."

"With Madison it's always difficult matches and she's an aggressive player so I knew that I needed to be ready for every point and especially on the return."

In other early women's matches, Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva defeated Ukraine's 32nd seed, Anhelina Kalinina, 6-4 7-6(5).

Sakkari was supposed to play in the day's first match on the Grandstand court, but she advanced without hitting a ball after Russia's Anna Kalinskaya withdrew before their fourth-round match due to health concerns.

Kalinskaya, the 22nd seed, arrived in Miami after a third-round loss in Indian Wells, where a stomach ailment forced her to miss a few days of practice.

Kalinskaya, 25, reached the Miami round of 16 without dropping a set, defeating China's Wang Xiyu and Latvia's ninth seed Jelena Ostapenko.

"I'm so sorry I was really looking forward to playing today, but unfortunately my health doesn't allow me. Thank you for your support," said Kalinskaya.

Rybakina has a 2-1 head-to-head record against Sakkari, who lost to Swiatek in the Indian Wells final.

"Tough opponent and I'm going to try to do my best to prepare as much as I can and try to be fresh physically," said Rybakina. "I think it's going to be a tough one but hopefully it goes my way."

SportsLigue