Rybakina outlasts Sakkari to make semi-finals in Miami

Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 4 seed, edged out Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 8 seed, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4 to reach the last four of the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Tuesday night.

In a match that could have gone either way, it was Rybakina’s serving that made the difference at the end. She hit 10 aces overall, closing out the final game with four unreturned serves.

“It was really tough,” Rybakina said. “I had two match points and couldn’t close it out but I was just thinking to keep on fighting for every point. I knew the third would be really tough. She had more energy, she was serving much better in the beginning of the third, but I was just thinking to play point-by-point. I was a little bit lucky to finish the match with new balls.”

“The most important is to try and recover and hopefully I’m going to feel better” – Rybakina

Rybakina, ranked No 4, will face Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, the No 27 seed, next.

“Now I don’t think it’s going to be easier physically, because with every match I get back in shape but at the same time it became tough to recover,” she said. “For sure these tough matches help in the long run, but it’s not easy to recover even though we have this extra day. After yesterday’s match I felt a little bit the ankle and everything is kind of inflamed. We try to go through all these uncomfortable muscle pains, but the most important is to try and recover and hopefully I’m going to feel better.”

Ahead of her victory, the Kazakh beat Dane qualifier Clara Tauson (3-6, 7-5, 6-4), American qualifier Taylor Townsend (6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4) and American Madison Keys, the No 17 seed (6-3, 7-5).

Sakkari, ranked No 9, won against Chinese Yue Yuan (6-2, 6-2), Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, the No 28 seed (7-5, 6-4) and Russian Anna Kalinskaya, the No 22 seed (W/O) earlier in the tournament.

Miami WTA 1000, other last quarter-final results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8,770,480):

• Victoria Azarenka beat Yulia Putintseva: 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-3
• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Jessica Pegula
• Caroline Garcia vs. Danielle Collins

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