"I'm gonna run to everything": Iga Swiatek darts to 15th straight win after defeating Petra Kvitova

HIGHLIGHTS: Swiatek outhits Kvitova in Miami quarters

From the grand heights, Wednesday's evening’s Miami Open quarterfinal between Petra Kvitova and Iga Swiatek offered an intriguing plotline: A first-time meeting between two powerful ball-strikers who’ve had distinct relationships to the world No. 1 ranking. Over the course of her long career, Kvitova has on more than one occasion come extremely close to grabbing the top spot, most recently falling a single set short when she lost the 2019 Australian Open final to Naomi Osaka. As for Swiatek, she reached number one in a most unusual way, inheriting the ranking just last week when Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement.

Further common ground is that these two have each won majors in dominant fashion, Kvitova twice at Wimbledon (’11, ’14), Swiatek at Roland Garros two years ago. Both are also humble. A revealing Kvitova moment came when, the day after winning Wimbledon for a second time, she spent that morning cleaning up her Wimbledon Village rental. Swiatek is consistently reflective and gracious. Speaking about Kvitova this evening, she said, “I really appreciate her like fighting spirit, especially after what she's been through. She's on tour for so many years that she has a lot of experience.”

But zero in on the battle inside the lines, and this was one-way traffic. In 77 minutes, Swiatek won easily, 6-3, 6-3, breaking Kvitova at 2-3 in the first set and 2-2 in the second. Not once did Swiatek face a break point. She also won 59 percent of her second serve points, compared to just 30 percent for Kvitova. It was the Pole’s 15th straight match win, upping her 2022 match record to 24-3. Over the course of four wins in Miami, Swiatek has yet to lose more than three games in a set.

“Right now it became kind of obvious that I'm gonna be strong and I'm gonna run to everything,” said Swiatek. “When I was younger, I had to a little bit force myself to do that, but I got used to it. Right now I feel like pretty confident it's giving me a lot of skills. It's great.”

Most of all, this match was decided by movement and margin. To threaten Swiatek, Kvitova needed to execute a low-percentage strategy: Strike big early versus a first-rate mover. As anticipated, Swiatek was poised to absorb those attempts, and in turn repeatedly swarmed Kvitova with crisper footwork, faster footspeed and a contemporary topspin forehand that is far safer and lethal than Kvitova’s flatter drive. Asked what she was most pleased with this evening, Swiatek said, “Well, for sure my first serve, and I would say just keeping up with her pace and actually giving back even stronger balls and forcing my opponent to make a little bit more mistakes.”

Constantly at the mercy of Swiatek, Kvitova was constantly rocked on her heels, her movement to the ball often late and, rather jarringly for a pro, sloppy in preparation. The result was that a great many of Kvitova’s shots flew long, wide and into the net.

While the 32-year-old Kvitova’s performance revealed much of a late career decline, Swiatek is only 20, barely at the start of what appears to be a superb run. Then again, I’ve said this about young contenders for more than 20 years and found them soon plummeting down the ranks.

But, perhaps as relentlessly optimistic as Charlie Brown once upon a time making his annual run to kick the football, I hold high hopes for Swiatek. There is a grounded quality to the way she speaks and, most of all, how she conducts herself on the court, tranquil in a way reminiscent of Pete Sampras. Darn, there I go again, gazing far into the future. Maybe it’s better to be like Swiatek and only focus on the next opponent, Jessica Pegula. For what it’s worth, Pegula won their only prior match, beating Swiatek, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, in Washington, D.C. back in 2019.