The Kazakh Elena Rybakinanumber four in the world, had to suffer this Thursday to win by 6-4, 0-6 and 7-6(2) to the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and qualify for final of the WTA 1000 in Miami for the second consecutive year.
Angel Rigueira
Angel Rigueira
Ivan Ronda
For the first time Azarenka managed to win a set against Rybakina, but the Kazakh managed to recover after the tough 0-6 in the second set and increased her balance with the Belarusian to 4-0 after a battle of two hours and 32 minutes.
Rybakina will compete in the final this Saturday for the second consecutive year, after losing the 2023 final against the Czech Petra Kvitova. This time, she will face the winner between Danielle Collins and the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Rybakina was solid in the first set and took it 6-4 without giving up her serve, but Azarenka’s reaction was forceful in a second set completely dominated by the Belarusian.
He increased the pace of his blows, vertically limiting his errors, and chained 16 consecutive points between the second and sixth games to tie the match with a resounding 6-0 in just 29 minutes. Rybakina lowered his level and returned to the locker room after losing the set to try to regain his lucidity.
The third set had excellent competitive rhythm and emotional intensity. Rybakina got the first break and escaped 5-3. She was able to serve for the match, but Azarenka showed off her fighting soul and chained three games in a row to come back and take a 6-5 lead.
Rybakina He had the merit of not losing confidence. He forced the tiebreaker by holding serve at love and dominated the tie-break 7-2 to repeat in the Miami final. Azarenka, who was playing in her twenty-fourth semifinal in a WTA 1,000 tournament, was one step away from celebrating her 200th victory in events in this category.
