Victoria Azarenka powers past Yulia Putintseva in gruelling contest to reach Miami Open semi-finals - 'It was a fight'
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Published 26/03/2024 at 23:04 GMT
Victoria Azarenka was pushed to the limit by Yulia Putintseva in a hugely competitive and enthralling Miami Open quarter-final. The Kazakh showed her mettle and extended the match into a third-set decider after a dominant second-set performance. However, Azarenka ultimately prevailed and could meet another Kazakh in Elena Rybakina or Maria Sakkari in the last four.
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Victoria Azarenka booked her place in the Miami Open semi-finals after a gruelling three-set win over Yulia Putintseva.
The Belarusian was left to grind out a hard-fought 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3 win over the precocious Kazakh after a 53-minute delay in the first set due to a technical fault with the scoring system.
This was Azarenka’s fifth Miami Open semi-final appearance, with the three-time winner of this tournament setting up a last-four clash against either Maria Sakkari or Elena Rybakina.
Speaking after the victory, she said: “It was a fight; Yulia is in such great form and I had to really dig deep in that second set.
“I felt like my legs were kind of giving in a little bit and I lost a bit of self-belief because she was playing so well.
“She was moving me around everywhere, but I was very happy that I could regroup, reset and take my chances.”
“I was able to come and play aggressively and face the challenge; it was a really fun and entertaining match.
“I’m just happy that after all these years I’m still excited to go out here, put on a show and stay motivated to go after my dreams.
“I’ve played on tour for 20 years and I still feel like I’m improving, so that’s priceless to me and I’m very grateful for this opportunity; I want to keep going.”
Putintseva set her stall out immediately after breaking Azarenka in the opening game, with the nervy-looking No. 27 seed falling victim to a double fault.
The Kazakh followed that up with a hold to move 2-0 up, leaving the two-time Grand Slam winner with plenty to ponder in the opening exchanges.
Azarenka would erase Putintseva’s 3-1 lead to restore parity at 3-3 after breaking the world No. 68 for the first time
However, Putintseva was left serving for the set after breaking Azarenka again, only to surrender three set points.
Azarenka then squandered two set points herself, ahead of the tie-break which Azarenka won fairly emphatically at 7-4.
The 29-year-old provided an incredible response to level the overall scores, breaking Azarenka's serve three times and winning the second set in the seventh game with a hold to love.
But the 34-year-old fought back impressively and Putintseva had few answers as Azarenka surged into a 5-1 lead and was left serving for the match.
A first match point came and went though, before the two-time Grand Slam winner got the job done in the ninth game.
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