Elena Rybakina, 7th in the world, winner in Indian Wells, easily qualified for the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 in Miami, beating 6-3, 6-0 the Italian Martina Trevisan (24th), Tuesday in Florida.
The 23-year-old Kazakh, who is now on twelve consecutive victories, never flinched against an opponent she was meeting for the first time, recording a rise in power after a delicate start to the tournament. She had indeed had to erase a match point in the 3rd round, before knocking down the Spaniard Paula Badosa.
After losing a break (4-3) in the first set, Rybakina immediately knew how to regain the service of Trevisan, who never recovered since she lost the last eight games of the match.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion and runner-up in Melbourne in January relied in particular on her excellent serve, her 10 aces making for a total of 201 since the start of the year, the best total on the circuit.
In search of a “Sunshine Double” (doubled Indian Wells / Miami) that only three players have succeeded in the same year – Steffi Graf twice, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka -, she will then be opposed to the American Jessica Pegula (3rd ) or the Russian Anastasia Potapova (26th).
Fernandez continues his journey in doubles
Eliminated in the second round in singles, Leylah Fernandez reached the doubles semi-finals with Taylor Townsend.
The duo formed by the Canadian and the American signed a victory of 2-6, 7-6 and 10-8 in front of Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok. In their next match, Fernandez and Townsend will face Magda Linette and Bernarda Pera. They defeated Anhelina Kalinina and Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 7-6 later in the day.
Fernandez lost in two identical sets 6-1 by Belinda Bencic to see her tournament end in singles.
