May 15, 2024
World No.4 Elena Rybakina advanced to her fourth final of the season after defeating No.27 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(2) in the semifinals of the Miami Open on Thursday. Rybakina improved to 4-0 over Azarenka and is now 22-3 on the 2024 season.
Rybakina has enjoyed an outstanding start to her season on the hard courts, with titles in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi and her first WTA 1000 final of the year in Doha. Last year, Rybakina was a win away from sweeping the Sunshine Double, falling to Petra Kvitova 7-6(14), 6-2 in the Miami final. She is just the third player in the last 10 years to make back-to-back Miami finals, joining Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty, the youngest player to do so since Maria Sharapova in 2005-2006.
“Last year it was different conditions, I was coming from Indian Wells, a lot of wins,” Rybakina said. “This year it’s much different. I was not expecting honestly to be in the final, because I was not prepared that well for this tournament.
“But really happy that I managed to battle through all these matches and be in the final again.”
Rybakina will face unseeded American Danielle Collins in the final on Saturday.
American Danielle Collins advanced to her first career WTA 1000 final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No.14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday night at the Miami Open.
The 2022 Australian Open finalist, unseeded in this tournament in what she’s said is her final year on the Hologic WTA Tour, will face No.4 seed Elena Rybakina for the title at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday. Collins has won two titles previously in her career, both in 2021.
Collins needed just 75 minutes to dispatch Alexandrova, who beat World No.1 Iga Swiatek and No.5 seed Jessica Pegula en route to her first semifinal in Miami, and become the second-lowest ranked Miami finalist behind only Naomi Osaka, who was No.77 when she reached the final in 2022.
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