Elena Rybakina has become the first finalist of the Miami Open, so she will repeat the final for the second consecutive year. She and she will also do so after having won one of the toughest matches of the tournament against Victoria Azarenka. And the Kazakh woman did not manage to win the match on serve, but rather she had to do it in the tie break. At a press conference she spoke about that situation and recalled her not being in the best shape of her.
-What were you thinking when you served to win while Azarenka was coming up?
“I had a similar situation with María also with new balls and she was serving to win the match. I took it out on that occasion, but I knew that she wasn’t always going to turn out equally well. She was trying to focus on the serve, but she was reading me well and she was giving me a couple of longer rallies back. She was just trying to continue fighting, and besides, she had that drive too. Throughout the match we were both fighting and I knew that in the tie break the only chance I had to win was to disconnect my mind and go for it. “I’m very happy that I was able to start the tie break better and in the end everything went well,” she said. Elena Rybakina in it Miami Open.
– About her opponents in the final: Collins or Aleksandrova
“I hadn’t thought about that game yet. I know that they are both playing very well in this tournament and that they are very aggressive, so there are not very long rallies. For this type of game I need to be physically prepared, make an effort and do a good serve. It will surely be difficult for me physically, but we will see who wins. “I will try to prepare and do my best in the final.”
– Recovering your fitness
“It has a lot to do with decisions on the track, but I am very proud of how I was able to push myself mentally even though it was very difficult from the beginning. I’m sure I can get a lot of good things out of this tournament, a lot of positive things. Also, these long matches at the beginning helped me get back into shape. It has been a successful tournament for me, no matter how I finish in the final.”
– Two victories in extremis
“Against Maria it was a really difficult match. I’m happy to have had a day of rest to recover, I knew I could last longer today and I expected it to be a difficult game. Here the story has been different, the tie break is like roulette and you never know which player starts well and how it will end. Sometimes in tournaments you need to be lucky and I think that in this tournament I am a little luckier than usual because I have had to play a lot of difficult matches in three sets. So I am taking advantage of all the opportunities I can and I hope to give my best in the final.”
2024-03-29 00:17:20
#Luck #Elena #Rybakina #Miami #Open
