Victoria Azarenka took another step toward her fourth Miami Open title by notching a 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-3 victory over Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan on Tuesday to reach the semifinals at Miami Gardens, Fla.
No. 27 seed Azarenka, from Belarus, will face Elena Rybakina in the semis. The fourth-seeded Kazakh player edged eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4 in the late match on Tuesday.
Azarenka overcame five double faults to knock off Putintseva, who had five aces in a match that took two hours and 55 minutes.
“It was definitely tough,” Azarenka told the Tennis Channel. “The second set, I felt flat and I had some chances that I didn’t convert. My legs started to give in a little bit.
“I was happy that I was able to reset and regroup and put my head together and be aggressive and not let her do what she likes to do.”
There was a 45-minute delay in the opening set due to a power outage.
Azarenka won the Miami title in 2009, 2011 and 2016. This is her fifth time reaching the semis. She lost in the 2018 semifinals to eventual champion Sloane Stephens.
Rybakina is back in the semifinals at Miami after losing the final to the Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova last year.
Rybakina had two match points on Sakkari’s serve at 4-5 of the second set before dropping that set in a tiebreaker. Rybakina recorded the only service break of the final set for a 4-3 lead, then needed three more match points over the last two games to wrap up the victory.
“I have no words because I’m so tired, but I’m really happy with the win,” Rybakina said. “It was such a tough battle. I got a little bit lucky with new balls, so it was easier to serve it out … now, I just need to recover.”
Rybakina wound up with a 10-4 edge in aces. She converted five of her 16 break opportunities while Sakkari was 3-for-8.
The last two quarterfinals are scheduled for Wednesday. Fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States will oppose 14th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, and 23rd-seeded Caroline Garcia of France will face Danielle Collins of the United States.
–Field Level Media
