Iga Swiatek congratulates Petra Kvitova on 'amazing and inspiring' Miami Open triumph

Iga Swiatek expressed her admiration for Petra Kvitova's performance during her title run at the 2023 Miami Open.

Petra Kvitova denied Elena Rybakina the chance to win the Sunshine Double as she put on a dominant performance in the Miami Open final. Kvitova saved five set points in the opening set to clinch the first set after a lengthy 22-minute tiebreak. She maintained her high level of play in the second set to secure two early breaks on Rybakina's serve, which allowed her to win her ninth WTA 1000 title, 7-6(14), 6-2.

On April 3, the former World No. 2 shared a picture of herself hugging the Miami Open trophy.

"Still hugging it," she tweeted.

Still hugging it ❤️ https://t.co/PASyaeqeJ0

In a reply to her post, Iga Swiatek, who was forced to forego her title defense at the Miami Open due to a persistent rib injury, expressed her admiration for Kvitova's exceptional performance during the tournament.

"Congratulations! Amazing and inspiring performance! You deserve it!," Swiatek replied.

@Petra_Kvitova @MiamiOpen Congratulations!☺️👏🏼👏🏼Amazing and inspiring performance! You deserve it!

Defending French Open champion Iga Swiatek reacts to start of 2023 clay season

On April 1, Iga Swiatek shared that she is back in training for the first time since her injury update to prepare for the upcoming clay court season.

"Back at it," she posted.

🔥Back at it

🔥Powrót do roboty

#chindrip #enjoytheride https://t.co/1szDLXBrVK

Roland Garros' official Twitter account recently celebrated the commencement of the 2023 clay court season.

"CLAY SEASON HERE WE GOOOO," the tweet read.

Swiatek expressed her excitement for the same as she retweeted the post with a happy heart emoji.

🥰 twitter.com/rolandgarros/s…

Iga Swiatek has won the clay court Major on two previous occasions. She won her first ever Grand Slam title at the 2020 French Open. Ranked World No. 54 at the time, the Pole put on an exceptional performance to defeat defending champion Marketa Vondrousova and World No. 2 Simona Halep en route to the finals. She defeated Sofia Kenin in the final in straight sets for her maiden WTA title.

The Pole was unable to defend her title in 2021, as she suffered a quarterfinals exit at the hands of Maria Sakkari.

Iga Swiatek entered as the heavy favorite at the 2022 French Open given her newly minted status as the World No. 1 with a five-tournament win streak. She put on a dominant performance at the Major, dropping only one set to Qinwen Zheng en route to the title. The World No. 1 defeated Coco Gauff in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 to secure her second Grand Slam title.