Elena Rybakina beats Jessica Pegula in rollercoaster Miami Open semi-final - ‘I played better when I was down’
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Published 31/03/2023 at 08:11 GMT
Elena Rybakina reached the Miami Open final after a battling win against Jessica Pegula on Thursday night. Rybakina is looking to repeat Iga Swiatek’s feat from last year by completing the 'sunshine double'. The Kazakhstan player would become just the fifth player to win Indian Wells and Miami Open in the same season. Petra Kvitova or Sorana Cirstea await in the final.
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Elena Rybakina is one win away from becoming the fifth woman to win Indian Wells and the Miami Open after beating Jessica Pegula 7-6(3) 6-4.
Rybakina had yet to beat Pegula before Thursday, but she battled hard to extend her winning streak to 13 and secured a place in the final. She will play Petra Kvitova or Sorana Cirstea in Saturday evening’s final.
"Jessica, she played really well some moments," Rybakina said. "It's not easy to play against her because she keeps the ball really low, and it's difficult to redirect the ball.
"I was playing today better when I was down. Then I think that I was doing everything correct. It was just not enough maybe energy. Maybe I was getting a bit mad when I was down so I was trying to push myself.
"I think that I started a bit more aggressive because also, I knew that if it's going to go to the third set, it's going to be much more difficult. So I maybe risked a bit more even in the end of the second set."
The opening set was a rollercoaster as Pegula broke Rybakina twice to serve for the set at 5-4. However, Rybakina broke back with some quality hitting to dig herself out of trouble.
Pegula broke again to serve for the set at 6-5, but Rybakina fought back when it mattered most for a second time.
At 2-2 in the tie-break, play was stopped due to rain and when it resumed, Rybakina won five of the next six points to steal the set.
More wet weather forced a stoppage before Pegula immediately went 0-40 down at the start of the second.
The American managed to hold with some clutch serving, then broke in the next game to go 2-0 up.
Both players had a break each in another period of twists and turns to make it 4-2 to Pegula, but Rybakina raised her game with some superb groundstrokes and won four consecutive games to win the match.
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