Daily Times

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff have been knocked out of the Miami Open.

Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2 on Monday night, hours after the third-seeded Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

In the men´s draw, top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the round of 16 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Gael Monfils.

Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6(1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarterfinals.

Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since.

“We played quite a few times before and sometimes it was three sets,” Alexandrova said. “I think sometimes I was quite close to it, but still far away. Winning against her, of course it feels great. I´m not sure if it´s a surprise or not, but I just worked quite hard on the court and it paid off.”

Swiatek rallied from a set down and beat Linda Noskova a day earlier. Against Alexandrova, she struggled.

“Disappointed for sure because I thought I was going to play better here in Miami,” Swiatek said. “But she played an amazing match and for sure, she was the better player out there today. Her serve, I had a had time reading it. I got a little bit tense when I couldn´t return well.”

Garcia defeated her second straight Grand Slam champion to reach Miami´s quarterfinals. She ousted four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka 7-6 (4), 7-5 on Sunday. Garcia said it had been a while since she had a victory over a top-10 opponent like Gauff.

“You keep working and trying to stay positive about what´s coming, that it´s going to pay off,” she said. “Sometimes, it´s very hard. But I´m lucky enough to have very good people behind me to help me and stay positive when I´m struggling.”

“It means a lot to have this little reward and keep going in the tournament,” she said. Also moving into the quarterfinals was No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina, who defeated 17th-seeded American Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5. Rybakina will next face No. 8 seed Maria Sakkari, who advanced to her second Miami Open quarterfinal when Anna Kalinskaya, seeded 22nd, withdrew with a right thigh injury.

Victoria Azarenka, who´s won the Australian Open twice, made the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Katie Boulter.

Yulia Putintseva also advanced, defeating No. 27 seed Anhalina Kalinina straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (5), and No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula beat Emma Navarro 7-6 (1), 6-3.

Alcaraz will next face Lorenzo Musetti, who beat Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed, defeated Christopher Eubanks 7-6 (4), 6-3, and No. 9 seed Alex de Minaur beat Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (3), 6-4.