"I wasn’t expecting": Iga Swiatek highlights what surprised her the most in shocking defeat to Alexandra Eala at Miami Open

World number two Iga Swiatek has admitted she was surprised to see some shots from her opponent Alexandra Eala during the quarterfinal clash of the Miami Open. The 23-year-old, who is regarded as one of the best players currently playing in women’s tennis in the singles category along with the likes of Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka and America’s Coco Gauff, was stunned by the 19-year-old who defeated her in the last-eight contest of the ongoing WTA 1000 event in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 7-5.

Swiatek spoke to the media after the match and explained that she was surprised to see some of her opponent’s shots on the day. The reigning world number two also stated that she started feeling better in the second round, but she couldn’t hold the advantage she had earlier in the set.

“Some of the shots were like pretty out of nowhere,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting her to hit so flat. She went all in & made these returns in so it wasn’t easy to hit it back. She was pretty loosened up and just went for it. Just felt a nice rythym & it helped her. No, I wasn’t really thinking about her. I was just happy I started feeling a bit better but I couldn’t hold it anyway. I thought I was kind of back and feeling the game a bit better but I didn’t really think about her.”

While doing so, Eala became the first player from the Philippines to cement a spot in the semifinal of the WTA 1000 event. She also became the first player from her country to beat two top-10 players, that too in the same week. She will now face 2024 US Open runner-up America’s Jessica Pegula in the semifinal, who defeated one-time Grand Slam winner Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the quarterfinal with a score of 6-4, 6-7, 6-2.