Iga Swiatek rolled past Jessica Pegula in the Miami Open semifinal to set up a showdown with Naomi Osaka in the final.
The Pole won her 16th straight match in straight sets by the scores of 6-2, 7-5 needing an hour and 48 minutes to outlast No.16 seed Pegula, the last American standing in singles at the Miami Open.
After wrapping up the first set with ease, Swiatek needed to battle through a tense second set with Pegula.
Fighting back from an early break, she squandered two match points at 5-4 before sealing victory two games later.
No.2 seed Swiatek of Poland is now into her first Miami Open final, and her third consecutive WTA 1000 final overall after her wins in Dubai and Indian Wells.
Swiatek will now take on former World No.1 Naomi Osaka in an enticing championship battle after the Japanese defeated Belinda Bencic for the first time at tour-level in the first semifinal.
Osaka won the pair’s only previous meeting in 2019 when she beat Swiatek 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the Round of 16 in Toronto.
Swiatek, with a win, can become the fourth player to win titles at both Indian Wells and Miami in the same season, completing the “Sunshine Double” joining the likes of Stefanie Graf (1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005), and Victoria Azarenka (2016) in the select group.
Swiatek has still yet to lose a match at the WTA 1000 events this year, where the entirety of her career-best winning streak has taken place.
She won the first WTA 1000 event of the season in Doha, then followed up with the title at WTA 1000 Indian Wells a fortnight ago.
Swiatek is now the ninth player to reach the finals at both Indian Wells and Miami in the same year, joining Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Clijsters, Maria Sharapova, and Victoria Azarenka.
All eight of those players have taken a turn at World No.1.
Swiatek will get her own turn there on Monday when she is guaranteed to ascend to the World No.1 ranking for the first time in her career.
