DANIELLE Collins and Ekaterina Alexandrova will meet in the semifinals of the 2024 Miami Open after winning in the last eight, Thursday (28/3). American Danielle Collins advanced to the semifinals of the WTA Miami Open with a landslide 6-3, 6-2 win over Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia.
Garcia entered the match on the back of a tough win over third seed Coco Gauff but was unable to gain a foothold against the Floridian.
Garcia still looked troubled by an injury to his right shoulder and received treatment early in the second set.
Collins broke to go 5-3 up in the first set and then held serve for the set, then in the second broke in the third game and never looked back as he cruised to victory in one hour and 19 minutes.
Collins reached the Miami semifinals six years ago as a qualifier and was ranked 53rd, the lowest-ranked semifinalist in the tournament.
The 31-year-old American is now 4-0 against Garcia and has yet to lose a set to the Frenchman, but he said the numbers don’t tell the real story.
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“I think against someone like Caro, it forces me to concentrate more. “I knew I didn’t want to give him an inch or he could go in there,” Collins said.
Meanwhile, Alexandrova advanced to the semifinals after beating home favorite Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, showing resilience in the third set where both players showed signs of fatigue.
Pegula broke to lead 4-3 in the first set and broke again to take the set, but the Russian came back to break serve in the first game of the second set.
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Once again the 14th seed Alexandrova broke early in the third quarter, but she let Pegula regain control of the set when she double-faulted on break point to bring the set level at 3-3.
The pair produced a fantastic rally in the next game which Pegula was able to hold, but at 4-4, Alexandrova delivered the deciding blow with Pegula hitting a back-hand long on the second break point.
The Russian held on for victory and dropped to his knees in joy at the result.
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Alexandrova, who beat world number one Iga Swiatek in the previous round, admitted it was difficult to break down Pegula’s sharp defense.
“I don’t understand how I can get the ball back to normal. He was everywhere so I needed to do something,” he said. “I try to wait and use every opportunity I get.”
The win was Alexandrova’s third against a top-five player this year and she said her success was the result of developing patience.
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“You have to wait and wait and something will come and then you have to take advantage of it,” he said.
The other semifinal match was between Elena Rybakina and Victoria Azarenka.
(AFP)
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