Victoria Azarenka and Elena Rybakina Fight Their Way to the Semi-Finals of the Miami Open

After fighting for over three hours, three-time Miami Open champion Victoria Azarenka defeated a resolute Yulia Putintseva to advance to the semi-finals on Tuesday, 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-3.

The highest-seeded woman still competing in the event, fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina, defeated eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4.

In addition to the energetic performance of the Kazakh player, who was born in Moscow, the 34-year-old Azarenka—who had triumphed in Miami in 2009, 2011 and 2016—had to contend with a lengthy interruption of play caused by a technical issue.

In the fourth game of the opening set, there was a power outage that affected the umpire’s communications and the Hawkeye system, causing the action to be suspended for 45 minutes.

Prior to the tiebreak, Azarenka had to preserve two of her own set chances at 6-5 after having to save three on Putintseva’s serve at 5-4 in the first set.

Although Azarenka found the strength to lead in the third set despite Putintseva’s dominance in the second, her opponent resisted, fending off match point before breaking.

However, Azarenka held onto her subsequent serve to guarantee her spot in the last four and maintain her hopes of winning a fourth Miami championship.

“Yulia was excellent; she’s in excellent form, and I had to work very hard.” She was playing so well and moving me around all over the place that I felt like my legs were sort of giving in a little bit and I lost a little bit of confidence,” Azarenka said.

However, she expressed happiness that she was able to get back up, start again, and really seize her opportunities by playing aggressively and rising to the occasion.

According to Azarenka, winning proved without a shadow of a doubt that she wants to play at the greatest level.

“I’m inspired to compete and pursue my goals. After 20 years of touring, I still feel like I’m getting better, which is priceless to me, so I want to keep doing it,” she said.

Azarenka, a Belarusian, will compete against Rybakina to advance to the final.

The tournament’s youngest player, Rybakina, 24, had to muster all of her might to endure a two-hour and forty-eight-minute battle with Sakkari.

Rybakina was up 6-5 in the first set and it seemed like the match would go to a tie-break, but Sakkari’s service game failed her at the critical juncture, and the Kazakhstani, who had lost the Miami final the year before, broke her with a superb down the line winner.

In a second set marred by mistakes, Sakkari took an early 4-2 lead but gave Rybakina the next three games and had to preserve two match opportunities.

The Greek easily won the tie-break, but Rybakina—who seemed to be suffering from an ankle injury—was able to break through at 3-3, making the most of her third break opportunity.

When behind 5-3, Sakkari’s perseverance allowed her to save four match points and hold, but Rybakina was able to end the match on her serve this time.

As with previous battles, this one was very difficult. I only need to get well right now, but I’m extremely delighted,” Rybakina added.