Rybakina

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina once again had to go three sets, pushed to the edge Thursday before beating No. 27 Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (2) in the semifinals of the Miami Open.

Rybakina, ranked fourth on the WTA Tour, will face No. 14 Ekaterina Alexandrova or unseeded Danielle Collins in the final Saturday. Rybakina also made last year’s final, losing in straight sets to Petra Kvitová.

“This year, it’s much different,” Rybakina said. “I was not expecting, honestly, to be in the final because I was not prepared that well for this tournament, but really happy that I managed to battle through all these matches and be in the final again.”

A day off will likely be welcome for Rybakina, who has been pushed to three sets in all but one match this tournament. Thursday’s match lasted 2 hours, 33 minutes, and she told the Tennis Channel that for the first time in her career, she has rested on the days between matches during a tournament.

“In the beginning, these long matches were helping me to get back in shape,” Rybakina said. “Now I’m not in shape just because I’m tired of all these long matches, but overall, it was really successful tournament no matter how I do in the final.”

Rybakina appeared to take control when she broke Azarenka’s serve to take a 3-2 lead in the third set. Azarenka fought off four break points before hitting a two-handed backhand into the net to give Rybakina the game.

It was quite a response from the second set when Azarenka lost only two points on her serve, and one came on a double fault.

But Azarenka wasn’t done. With Rybakina serving for the match, Azarenka broke back to even the final set at 5-5. Both players then held serve to send the match to a tiebreaker, which belonged to Rybakina, who went up 6-1. She wrapped up the victory with a cross-court forehand.

Rybakina, 24, is seeking her third title this year. She is 4-0 in her career against Azarenka, including two victories this year.

Azarenka, 34, was attempting to become the tournament’s oldest winner. She became the second-oldest semifinalist; 36-year-old Venus Williams made the semis in 2017.

Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev reached the men’s semifinals with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over unseeded Fabian Marozsan. Zverev will play top-seeded and 2022 tournament champion Carlos Alcaraz or No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov on Friday.

Second-seeded Jannik Sinner will face No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in the other semifinal. It’s a rematch of last year’s Miami Open final that Medvedev won.