Iga Swiatek has been sent crashing out of the Miami Open, with the world number two shocked by Alexandra Eala.
Swiatek was surprised by Eala in their Miami Open quarter-final clash, where the latter beat the former 6-2, 7-5.
Second seed Swiatek knows Aryna Sabalenka won’t drop her level, but the Pole has now blown her chance to close the gap on the Belarusian.
Sabalenka is into the Miami Open semi-finals, with the top seed taking on Jasmine Paolini at the WTA 1000 event.
Eala meanwhile meets home favourite Jessica Pegula after her shock win over Swiatek, with the 19-year-old having previously knocked out Madison Keys.
Iga Swiatek service struggles highlighted in Miami Open loss to Alexandra Eala
The Filipino is rightfully earning many plaudits amid her stunning run, but Roger Federer’s former coach Paul Annacone also closely analysed Swiatek after the shock result.
“That is amazing when you see a young person stay in the moment like that,” he said on the Tennis Channel Live Podcast.
“You won a set, that’s one thing. But when you are down 4-2 in the second set against a great player, to be able to hang in there, I was surprised Iga was the one who was rattled and panicked and didn’t really settle in, so that tells me something about Alex Eala’s ability to stay in the moment and trust her game.
“It was really pretty special to watch. I didn’t call 13 breaks of serve in that match but I will tell you what, Iga only won 27 of 70 service points. That shouldn’t happen.”
WTA players may now discuss how beatable Iga Swiatek is after Miami Open exit
After falling in the semi-finals at Indian Wells earlier this month, Swiatek was keen to bounce back at the Miami Open.
And she was certainly going about that the right way, beating Caroline Garcia, Elise Mertens and Elina Svitolina at the hard-court event.
READ MORE: Iga Swiatek points out one difference between the players on the ATP Tour compared to the WTA
But the second seed will be hugely disappointed with her defeat against Eala, which represented their first career meeting.
The teenager needed just one hour and 39 minutes to complete the huge upset, with former WTA top 10 player CoCo Vandeweghe now sending Swiatek a warning after her exit.
Continuing on from Annacone’s verdict, she said: “That certainly shouldn’t happen with a former number one and current world number two and multiple Grand Slam champion.
| Alexandra Eala | Service | Iga Swiatek |
| 1 | Aces | 3 |
| 3 | Double faults | 4 |
| 66.7% (44/66) | 1st serve | 64.3% (45/70) |
| 52.3% (23/44) | 1st serve points won | 46.7% (21/45) |
| 50.0% (11/22) | 2nd serve points won | 24.0% (6/25) |
| 44.4% (4/9) | Break points saved | 20.0% (2/10) |
| 10 | Service games played | 10 |
“Those are standards which never dip for them but we have been seeing that quite a bit lately that Iga is shakeable, she gets down on herself really quickly and she doesn’t recover.
“The emotions start bleeding, she gets down on herself really quickly and she hasn’t found a rhythm of getting herself back into check.
“You see other people with temperamental moments and they can get themselves back into check, whether it’s Sabalenka smashing a racket and then it’s hey I am back in, I am locked in.
“Iga has to figure that out otherwise the locker room is going to start saying world number two, she is beatable and not only beatable but multiple times she has been beatable throughout tournaments she has always done well at and consistent at.”
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