MIAMI – Eighth seed Maria Sakkari reached the Miami Open quarter-finals without hitting a ball as Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya withdrew ahead of their fourth-round match due to health issues.
German fourth seed Alexander Zverev, also, showed his quality to escape a tight first set en route to a 7-6(4) 6-3 win over Christopher Eubanks at the Miami Open to set up a fourth-round clash with Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
Caroline Garcia pulled off a gritty 6-3 1-6 6-2 upset of third seed Coco Gauff to book her first trip to the quarter-finals while fourth seed Elena Rybakina powered past Madison Keys 6-3 7-5.
Rybakina dispatched Florida resident Keys and will next meet a well-rested Maria Sakkari after the Greek eighth seed got a walkover into the quarter-finals.
Zverev limited his unforced errors, converted his two break point opportunities and saved four of the five break points he faced before closing out the one hour and 44-minute contest with a forehand volley into the open court.
“It was a difficult match. I thought he was in control of it throughout the first set,” Zverev said according to Reuters. “I was just hanging on and sometimes that is just what you need to do.”
Eubanks had a chance to serve out the first set at 5-3 but was denied by Zverev, who broke the American again early in the second set to build a 3-0 lead. Zverev later had to save three break points to serve out the match.
Awaiting Zverev in the last 16 will be 15th seed Khachanov, who converted his fifth match point to secure a 6-1 5-7 7-6(5) win over Argentine 20th seed Francisco Cerundolo.
Zverev has a 3-2 record against Khachanov and won their most recent meeting in the gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics.
Elsewhere, No.4 seed Elena Rybakina held firm in blustery conditions to reach her second consecutive Miami Open quarter-final, defeating No.17 seed Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5 in 1 hour and 24 minutes.
The result was the 2023 finalist’s first straight-sets win of the fortnight. She had needed three sets to get past both Clara Tauson and Taylor Townsend in her previous two rounds.
Rybakina levelled her head-to-head record at two wins apiece against Keys, who was bidding to return to the last eight of Miami for the first time since 2016.
All three of their previous meetings had occurred in 2022, with Keys winning on the clay of Roland Garros and the outdoot hard courts of Cincinnati, but Rybakina claiming her first victory of the series indoors in Ostrava.
“I’m so sorry, I was really looking forward to play,” Kalinskaya said in a statement according to wtatennis.com. “But unfortunately, my health doesn’t allow me. Thank you for your support.”
Both Sakkari and Kalinskaya have been WTA 1000 finalists this season. Kalinskaya was runner-up in Dubai to Jasmine Paolini; Sakkari reached her fourth WTA 1000 final last week in Indian Wells, falling to Iga Swiatek.
The Greek player’s previous best Miami performance was a semifinal run in 2021, when she defeated Naomi Osaka before losing to Bianca Andreescu.
Rybakina holds a 2-1 record against Sakkari overall. The Kazakh has won both of their three-setters, triumphing 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the 2020 St. Petersburg semi-finals and 6-0, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) in the 2023 WTA Finals Cancun group stage. Sakkari captured her sole win 7-5, 6-4 in the 2022 Indian Wells quarter-finals.
Unsurprisingly for a match between two formidable servers, the key numbers were the efficiency of both players’ deliveries.
Rybakina was superior on both first serve — behind which she won 81 per cent of the points compared to Keys’s 62 per cent — and second, where she captured 50 per cent of the points compared to 44 per cent.
Rybakina did not face a break point in the first set, and though she missed her first four opportunities to capture the Keys serve across two games, she broke through at 5-3 as the American sent a backhand long.
Indeed, Rybakina only faced break point in one game overall. She led 3-1 in the second set, but some fine returning and net attacks from Keys enabled the former US Open finalist to get back on serve.
But Rybakina held firm through the remainder of a tight set and pounced again to break at 5-5.
Putintseva, who is fresh off a fourth-round run at Indian Wells, advanced to her fifth career quarterfinal at WTA 1000 level or above following Roland Garros 2016 and 2018, the US Open 2020,
Rome 2020 and Toronto 2022. She will bid to make a first semifinal against either No.24 seed Katie Boulter or No.27 seed Victoria Azarenka.
