With a lot of effort again, like last Tuesday against Maria Sakkari, when she had to play two hours and 48 minutes to beat the Greek in three sets, Elena Rybakina beat Victoria Azarenka this Thursday in the semifinals of the Miami Open: 6-4 , 0-6 and 7-6 (2) in 2h33. The Kazakh thus entered the final on Saturday (20:00, Teledeporte and DAZN), which is the second consecutive for her in the tournament, after losing last year against the Czech Petra Kvitova. Rival expected: Ekaterina Alexandrova or Danielle Collins, who play no earlier than 01:30 (Teledeporte and DAZN).
“This tournament has been a marathon from day one and today was another battle. I am happy to be in the final again,” said Rybakina, who hit 40 winners, 11 of them from direct serves. She has already accumulated 393 in 2024, more than anyone on the women’s circuit. Although she committed 43 unforced errors, Elena managed to get out of the trouble that Azarenka, champion in Florida in 2009, 2011 and 2016, had put her in, by making her a donut in the second set and getting a break when her rival served with 5-4 to close the victory. She did it in the tiebreak, honing in on her serve when she needed it most.
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“There is a lot of humidity, they are difficult conditions, and I accused it in the second set. But then I came out prepared in the third and fought until the end. This time I suffered a little worse than before Sakkari. In the tie-break I turned off my mind a little to go for the victory,” summarized Rybakina, who was able to react after winning only five points in a horrible second round for her.
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Perhaps it helped that she had beaten the 34-year-old Belarusian in the three previous duels they had had. This is the fifth final in a WTA 1,000 (2-2) for the world number four (she will maintain it no matter what happens on Saturday), the only top-10 that she managed to reach the semifinals in Miami. This season she is one of the most consistent tennis players, with four finals (2-1 so far).
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2024-03-28 22:09:35
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