Miami Open notebook: No. 1 ranking ‘pretty surreal’ for Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek

Following her second-round victory Friday night, Iga Swiatek was surprised to see former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport and tournament director James Blake come on the court with roses to congratulate her for clinching the No. 1 ranking.

She’s the 28th woman, but first Polish man or woman to be crowned No. 1. Ash Barty gave up her ranking after retiring on Wednesday.

“Pretty surreal,” said the second-seeded Swiatek, who’s 20 and pursuing her third consecutive Masters 1000 title. “On one hand, these are the most special moments that you’re going to remember for the rest of your life, but on the other hand, that match was just another match.

“It’s something I’m really proud of. It’s a dream come true, for sure.”

Countryman Hubert Hurkacz, 25, the defending Miami Open champion, won his opening match on the Grandstand Saturday, 7-6 (5), 6-2 over France’s Arthur Rinderknech, in which the Polish rifle amassed 17 aces and no double faults while allowing zero break points.

“Super proud of Iga; to be on top of the rankings means a lot,” said Hurkacz, the eighth seed and highest-ranked male Pole (ninth last year), surpassing Wojtek Fibak, who was ranked 10th in 1977.

Kyrgios coaching Osaka?

Nick Kyrgios and Naomi Osaka are not only linked by their admissions of mental anxiety, but the fiery Aussie also has been giving the former world No. 1 ranked woman serving lessons.

“My best advice is, I told her, when you start overthinking on your serve, that’s when things start to get complicated,” Kyrgios said of their recent practices in Los Angeles.

Osaka said Kyrgios’ serving tips paid off in her matches this week. The unseeded Osaka was given a free pass into the round of 16 when Karolina Muchova withdrew with an abdomen strain. The two highest seeds remaining in the decimated top half of the draw are No. 9 Danielle Collins, who despite sustaining a neck injury in the second set, advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over 37-year-old Russian Vera Zvonareva, the oldest woman in the draw; and No. 8 Ons Jabeur, who played Kaia Kanepi in a late-evening match.

Lucky loser Lucia Bronzetti of Italy also got a walkover into the fourth round when qualifier Anna Kalinskaya pulled out with an arm injury. Daria Saville, ranked 249th, of Russia and Australia, made the fourth round for the second time in Miami (last came in 2015) when Katerina Siniakova retired with an abdomen strain, trailing 6-0, 1-0.

“I hit with Nick in L.A., and I was watching his form from very close-up, and he does like this slide thing and then he puts his two feet together and helps him explode more,” Osaka said. “I’m also working on my second serve, so hopefully I will get the miles per hour up, and then I will be unbreakable, or I’ll try my best to be.”

Temper, temper

The ATP fined Kyrgios and young American Jensen Brooksby for their recent temper tantrums.

Kyrgios was fined $25,000 for nearly hitting a ball boy after smashing his racket into the court after he shook hands at the net following his three-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells last week. The fine included $5,000 for an audible obscenity.

The ATP fined Brooksby $15,000 for his racket smash during his first-round victory on Thursday at the Miami Open.

Brooksby was leading 4-1, 40-40 in the third set against Argentine Federico Coria when after missing a shot he flung the racket toward the backstop where it appeared to graze the ball boy’s foot.