MIAMI – Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan defeated No. 27 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (2) in semi-finals of the Miami Open as German fourth seed Alexander Zverev reached the men’s semi-finals with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over unseeded Fabian Marozsan. Zverev.
Rybakina, ranked fourth on the WTA Tour, will face No. 14 Ekaterina Alexandrova or unseeded Danielle Collins in Saturday’s final. She also made last year’s final before losing in straight sets to Petra Kvitova.
Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner won his 20th match of 2024 to reach the Miami Open semi-finals for the third time in the past four years with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Tomas Machac.
A day off will likely be welcome for Rybakina, who has been pushed to three sets in all but one match this tournament. The match lasted 2 hours, 33 minutes.
Rybakina appeared to take control when she broke Azarenka’s serve to take a 3-2 lead in the third set. Azarenka fought off four break points before hitting a two-handed backhand into the net to give Rybakina the game.
It was quite a response from the second set when Azarenka lost only two points on her serve, and one came on a double fault.
But Azarenka wasn’t done. With Rybakina serving for the match, Azarenka broke back to even the final set at 5-5. Both players then held serve to send the match to a tiebreaker, which belonged to Rybakina, who went up 6-1. She wrapped up the victory with a cross-court forehand.
Rybakina, 24, is seeking her third title this year. She is 4-0 in her career against Azarenka, including two victories this year.
Azarenka, 34, was attempting to become the tournament’s oldest winner. She became the second-oldest semifinalist; 36-year-old Venus Williams made the semis in 2017.
Zverev attacked Marozsan’s serve and converted three of his seven break-point chances, swatted aside the two break points he faced and won 80% of his first serve points en route to the last four in Miami where he has yet to drop a set.
Despite not dropping a set in windy conditions, Zverev had his hands full with Marozsan, who is making his Miami debut and enjoyed top-10 upsets over Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur on the way to the quarter-finals.
“If he continues playing like that he’s going to rise up the rankings very quickly and he’s going to be one of those (top 10) guys himself,” Zverev said in his on-court interview.
“When we are in control, I think all top players when they are in control they feel like they can manage the match, manipulate the match a little bit in their own favour.
“But against him that’s not possible. That’s why he has such a great top-10 record and he’s an unbelievable player.”
Zverev’s win, sealed with a break when he unleashed a brilliant backhand down the line, marked his return to the Miami Open semi-finals for the first time since his runner-up finish in 2018.
Elsewhere, Sinner, seeded second, will take on No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev in a rematch of last year’s Miami Open final.
Medvedev advanced to the latest meeting with a 6-2, 7-6 (7) win over No. 22 seed Nicolas Jarry in a late match.
Sinner reached his fourth final four of the season and moved to 20-1 overall. He reached the finals of this event in 2021 and 2023, losing both times.
“It was a really tough match, but I was happy about the performance,” Sinner said.
Sinner, 22, said Machac served well early on and his aggressiveness kept things close for a while. But Sinner continued his fabulous run, breaking his opponent’s serve four times, to move on to the next round.
“I always say when it all feels good on the court, it’s easy to play tennis,” he said. “But it has to start off in a practice session when you don’t feel well, but you still have to practice and this can make the difference.
“At the moment, I feel really good on the court,” he continued.
“Physically I feel good. I’m just happy to compete,” Sinner said. “We practice very hard to be in these positions and I’m really happy I can play once again in the semis here at such a special tournament. It’s special for me, I made my first Masters 1000 final here.”
Medvedev got the only two service breaks of the match against Jarry in the first set. Jarry couldn’t take advantage of his lone break opportunity at 5-5 in the second set, and Medvedev eventually sealed the victory on his third match point in the tiebreaker.
“The first set I thought I was playing a good level, not doing anything extra, just enough to win,” Medvedev said. “Then he started to play much better and it was tough rallies, tough points. He served better and it was just a matter of a few points in the tiebreak.
“I was expecting he would get a lot of support from the Chileans and it was a good atmosphere.”
On the women’s side, 14th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova followed up her win over No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek with another top-10 victory, taking down No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Alexandrova earned her first trip to a Miami Open semifinal.
“I think it’s like the biggest achievement for me today on this court, and semifinal is a big bonus,” Alexandrova said.
Garcia had come off consecutive wins over Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaki and Coco Gauff. But the run fizzled out against Collins, who has won 10 of 11 sets in this tournament and needed just 80 minutes to advance.
Collins moved to 4-0 in her career against Garcia, who never had a break point in the match. Collins downplayed the dominant showing.
