Hailey Baptiste may have delivered the biggest upset of this year's Miami Open. The 24-year-old American stunned No. 9 seed Elina Svitolina on Saturday in straight sets.

When the 45th-seeded Baptiste stood in front of Elina Svitolina on March 22, few thought Svitolina would be the one on the losing end. However, Baptiste turned the tables on the Ukrainian, and the Tennis Channel posted the winning moment on X.

“HAILEY BAPTISTE JUST UPSET ELINA SVITOLINA”, the caption read. “The American beat the No. 9 seed 6-3, 7-5 and will face Jelena Ostapenko for a spot in the quarters.”

Baptiste broke Svitolina’s serve thrice in the 2nd set. She managed to hold her own serves, win the crucial breakpoints, and made it into the Round of 16 at a WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career.

This marks the American’s 2nd career Top 10 win. The 1 hour and 38 minutes may have been challenging, but Baptiste later explained her mindset.

Hailey Baptiste’s Self-Confidence and Hard Work

Around this time in 2025, Baptiste's trajectory looked very different. She barely made it into the WTA Top 100 and needed a wildcard entry to the Miami Tournament. She then won only two matches until the 3^rd round. So, what changed in 12 months?

“I've definitely been putting in a lot of work off the court and on the court, behind the scenes, and it's clearly showing up," she gave the answer postgame. "I've been here for a while, everybody pretty much knows what I can do, and it's time for me to show it, I guess."

And it was not just hard work. Standing against the 9^th-seed, who is the first-ever player to reach 20 tour-level wins in 2026, must have been tough. But Baptiste trusted her game this time.

"I've always kind of known how I should play”, she said. “There are moments where maybe I don't trust it as much, and right now, the last few months and over the past year, I've just been trying to trust my game and trust myself as much as possible.”

And that trust showed fruition. Moving forward, do you think she’ll be able to deliver the same game against Jelena Ostapenko next? Comment it down.

Written by

Deblina Roy

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi