World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday battled back in the second set to blast her way into the semi-finals of the Miami Open with a 6-2, 7-5 win over China’s Zheng Qinwen, while Novak Djokovic cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Italian Lorenzo Musetti in 1 hour, 22 minutes.
Sabalenka’s victory gives her first place in the last four at Miami, with a clash against Italy’s Jasmine Paolini standing between her and a place in the final.
It looked like it was going to be routine business for the Belarussian against ninth seed Zheng when Sabalenka took the first set comfortably, but Zheng had worked something out between sets and came out firing, breaking Sabalenka twice to open up a 4-2 lead in the set.
Photo: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / USA Today
Sabalenka was in real trouble at 0-40 down, but, after some signs of anger, fought back to hold for 4-4 and then turned her aggression into a powerful finale.
With some blistering returns, the top seed broke to go 6-5 and then with her serve at full force, confidently held to secure the win.
“Honestly every match is tough against her, I always have to work really hard to get the win and today was an incredible level from both of us,” Sabalenka said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Earlier, Paolini moved into the semi-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Poland’s Magda Linette.
Sixth seed Paolini, beaten in the finals at Wimbledon and the French Open last year, became the first Italian to make it to the last four in Miami.
Paolini, who is looking for her second title at the WTA 1000 level, after last year’s triumph in Dubai, looked confident and said she had known her form would start to bring her results.
“I think I didn’t play bad this season, but I just didn’t have a great result, but I was there. I lost many matches, but to big opponents,” she said.
Meanwhile, world No. 2 Iga Swiatek is receiving additional security at the Miami Open after she was harassed by a spectator during practice.
The issue comes after British player Emma Raducanu was targeted by a stalker during last month’s Dubai Open.
Media reports said that Swiatek was verbally harassed by a spectator, who has a history of online attacks against the player, during practice on Sunday.
“Security is a top priority. We monitor the network to catch these types of issues. Constructive criticism is one thing, and threats, hate speech or even disturbance during training is another — this cannot be condoned,” a spokesperson for Swiatek said.
In men’s singles, Musetti, the 15th seed from Tuscany, got off to a flying start to take a 2-0 lead in his first set against Djokovic, but then proceeded to lose the next nine games as the Serb, looking confident and sharp, ran away with the match.
Djokovic has won the Miami Open six times, but has not featured in the quarters since his last victory in Florida in 2016.
The 37-year-old is just three wins away from his 100th tour-level title.
Djokovic was yesterday to face American Sebastian Korda for a place in the semi-finals after the 24th seed beat French veteran Gael Monfils 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in a rain-affected match.
Djokovic said he was grateful to be working with coach Andy Murray in Miami, although it felt a bit surreal after their long rivalry on court.
“It’s still surreal that one of my biggest rivals is my coach, and he’s fist-bumping and jumping around in the box,” Djokovic said. “Sometimes I pinch myself and ask myself: ‘Is this real? Is this a dream?’ but it’s great.”
“We’re trying to get the most out of this relationship of player and coach, and also to spend some quality time together. Miami has been good. We were here early, almost a week before the tournament started,” he said. “We played some golf, we enjoyed some dinners together and we’re having fun.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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