Rybakina held off Azarenka and repeated as a finalist in Miami

The Kazakh Elena Rybakinanumber four in the world, will have to suffer this Thursday to win 6-4, 0-6 and 7-6(2) in Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and qualify for final of the WTA 1000 in Miami for the second year in a row.

For the first time Azarenka managed to win a set against Rybakina, but the Kazakh recovered after a 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 Saturday’s final for the second consecutive year, after losing in the 2023 final to Czech Petra Kvitova. This time, he will face the winner of the interval Danielle Collins and the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Rybakina was solid in the first set and took it 6-4 without dropping her serve, but Azarenka’s reaction was strong in the second set which the Belarusian completely dominated.

He increased the speed of his punches, vertically limited his errors, and chained 16 consecutive points between the second and sixth games to tie the match at a resounding 6-0 in just 29 minutes. Rybakina dropped her level and returned to the locker room after losing the set to try to regain her composure.

The third set had a great competitive rhythm and emotional intensity. Rybakina gets the first break and escapes 5-3. He was able to serve for the game, but Azarenka showed her fighting spirit and chained three games in a row to come back and take a 6-5 lead.

Rybakina He had the merit of never losing confidence. He forced the tiebreaker by keeping a zero and dominated the tie-break 7-2 to repeat in the Miami final. Azarenka, playing in her twenty-fourth semifinal at a WTA 1,000 tournament, is one step away from celebrating her 200th victory in events in this category.