Aryna Sabalenka defeated Barbora Krejcikova for the second week in a row to reach the quarter-finals of the Miami Open on Monday. The second seed won the match 6-3, 6-2 in just 66 minutes. Sabalenka’s now reached the quarters of all five tournaments she’s played in 2023.
Krejcikova’s game was undone by the five double faults she hit while her opponent had just one. Meanwhile, Sabalenka’s superior serving was also seen in the eight aces she hit that were twice as many as the Czech’s The Indian Wells finalist won 88% of her first-serve points to Krejcikova’s 67% and 57% of her second-serve points.
Sabalenka also won 57% points on return on Krejcikova’s second serve. After the win, Sabalenka said, “It was an amazing performance from me. I think I played really great tennis today. Super happy with the level, especially against a player like Barbora, always tough matches against her”.
For a place in the semi-finals, Sabalenka will take on Sorana Cirstea next. The Romanian also beat a Czech player, Marketa Vondrousova, 7-6(3), 6-4 in her fourth-round match.
Miami Open: Elena Rybakina continues with her quiet domination
Indian Wells winner, Elena Rybakina also had no problems in getting to the quarter-finals in Miami.
The seventh-ranked Kazakh beat Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-3 after an hour and 46 minutes of play. Rybakina hit 25 winners, eight more than the Belgian’s 19. Both players hit 22 unforced errors each. The 23-year-old also saved seven of the eight break points she faced while converting three break points on Mertens’ serve.
Next up for Rybakina will be Martina Trevisan. The Italian, seeded 25th, took out 24th seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3 in 90 minutes. The last Czech remaining in the draw, Petra Kvitova advanced to the quarter-finals on the back of a 7-5, 7-6(5) win over Varvara Gracheva.
The 15th seed needed a little over two hours to get the win. Kvitova’s next opponent will be 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. Alexandrova won her fourth-round match after her opponent, Bianca Andreescu suffered a bad fall and injured herself in the second set.
The injury that saw the Canadian leave the court in a wheelchair forced her retirement with Alexandrova leading 7-6(0), 0-2. Lastly, third seed Jessica Pegula and 27th seed Anastasia Potapova have set up a quarter-final clash at the Miami Open. Pegula won 6-1, 7-5 against Magda Linette. Potapova got the better of 23rd seed Qinwen Zheng 6-4, 7-6(4).
