Miami Open: Iga Swiatek says 'forehand collapsed' in shock loss to Alexandra Eala, not blaming 'aggressive' fan incident
Published 27/03/2025 at 15:39 GMT
World No. 2 Iga Swiatek suffered a surprise loss to 19-year-old wildcard Alexandra Eala in the Miami Open quarter-finals. Swiatek spoke afterwards about having extra security around her after she was targeted by a male fan at a practice session. She also said she made "too many mistakes" in the match and her "forehand collapsed" as she made 32 unforced errors.
Iga Swiatek
Image credit: Getty Images
Iga Swiatek was reluctant to blame the added security around her - after she was targeted by an "aggressive" fan - as a factor behind her shock Miami Open loss to wildcard Alexandra Eala.
World No. 2 Swiatek looked out of sorts as she was beaten in straight sets by world No. 140 Eala, who continued her dream run to reach the semi-finals.
Swiatek's serve was broken eight times and she made 32 unforced errors compared to 12 by 19-year-old Eala.
It was Swiatek’s first match since it was revealed that she has been given extra security at the Miami Open after being targeted by a male fan at a practice session.
Asked about the incident and whether it impacted her preparation ahead of the match, Swiatek said: "No, I wouldn't say so."
Instead Swiatek said she made "too many mistakes" in the match: "I wasn't playing my best game, and I felt like my forehand collapsed a little bit. So it wasn't comfortable.
- Swiatek stunned in Miami quarters by 19-year-old Eala
- Swiatek given extra security after being targeted by abusive fan
"And you know, Alexandra for sure used her chances and pushed me. So yeah, for sure she deserves to win this match.
"Her being a lefty didn't surprise me, but for sure, she went all in. She made these returns in and pretty long, and so it wasn't easy to hit it back.Â
"She was pretty loosened up and just went for it. She felt the nice rhythm and it helped her."
Swiatek will now turn her attention to the clay swing, which has been her strongest part of the year in recent seasons.
The world No. 2 is yet to win a title in 2025 but is ready to move on from her surprise loss to Eala.
"For sure, I don't want to think about it too long," added Swiatek. "It's nice to learn from losses, but yeah, there are other things ahead, and I'm happy that we're going to play on clay.Â
"I don't know how it's going to look like this year, but for sure I'll work hard to be ready for first tournaments."
Eala will face Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals after she beat Emma Raducanu in three sets.
Eala said she was "in complete disbelief" after knocking out five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek to reach the semis.
Eala graduated from the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy less than two years ago and was pictured alongside Nadal and Swiatek in one of her graduation photographs.
"It's so surreal, because I feel like I'm the exact same person that I was in that photo," she said.
"But of course, circumstances have changed, and I'm just so happy and so blessed to be able to compete with such a player on this stage."
- - -
Watch and stream the 2025 French Open live on TNT Sports and discovery+
Related Topics
Thoughts?
/images.sports.gracenote.com/images/lib/basic/geo/country/flag/large/9637.png)
/images.sports.gracenote.com/images/lib/basic/geo/country/flag/large/2214.png)