By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, March 25, 2024
Onerous Rock Stadium is wanting slightly like a Kazakhstani Consulate.
Elena Rybakina topped Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the Miami Open quarterfinals for the second straight yr.
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The 2023 Miami Open finalist Rybakina joins compatriot Yulia Putintseva within the quarterfinals giving Kazakhstan two of the final eight girls nonetheless standing in Miami for the primary time.
Earlier, unseeded Putintseva edged Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 6-4, 7-6(5) in two hours, 23 minutes to succeed in the quarterfinals for the primary time in 10 Miami Open appearances.
A robust end helped Rybakina conquer Keys and lift her 2024 report to 20-3.
Swatting a forehand winner, Keys held agency for a 5-4 second-set lead with a loud “come on!”
When Rybakina imposed the backhand crosscourt sample it posed issues for Keys. Whacking a wild backhand vast, Keys dropped serve within the eleventh sport.
On match level, Rybakina pumped an ace down the T to shut in a single hour, 24 minutes.
Pressured out of Indian Wells because of sickness, Rybakina is regaining her energy, vary and rhythm in Miami.
After scoring successive three-set wins over Clara Tauson and Taylor Townsend, Rybakina delivered her finest efficiency of the event at the moment.
“Sadly it was like eight days with out something—no health, no tennis so it was powerful to return again,” advised Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj afterward. “I’m nonetheless in ache in any case these matches, however I’m feeling higher and hopefully this additional day we’ve in between helps.
“So we’ll see the way it’s gonna be within the subsequent one.”
The following one pits the 2022 Wimbledon winner in opposition to two-time Indian Wells finalist Maria Sakkari for a semifinal spot.
Sakkari took a walkover into the quarterfinals when Twenty second-seeded Anna Kalinskaya withdrew from their scheduled Grandstand assembly.
Rybakina is 2-1 lifetime vs. Sakkari with each wins coming in three units.
“For positive it is gonna be a tricky match,” Rybakina stated. “She’s assured now, she’s performed nicely in Indian Wells. We all know one another nicely.
“We performed a few instances. Bodily, if I really feel higher than I’ll have all the possibilities to win so my precedence is to only get better proper now.”
Ought to Rybakina and Putintseva each prevail within the quarterfinals, they are going to sq. off in an all-Kazakhstan semifinal.
Photograph credit score: Miami Open/Onerous Rock Stadium