Elena Rybakina beat Jessica Pegula 7-6(3) 6-4 in the semifinals of the Miami Open and extended her career-best winning streak to 13 matches. As the reigning BNP Paribas Open champion, the world No.7 Rybakina is one win away from becoming the fifth woman to sweep the Sunshine Double.
In the first two matches at the 2023 Miami Open, Rybakina played three-setters, one of which even included saving a match point against Paula Badosa, but the Kazakhstani’s last three encounters were all straight-set affairs.
In Friday’s semifinal, Pegula twice served for the first set, but even though both players made three break point conversions, Rybakina was more dominant in the tiebreak and she’s now 7-0 in tiebreaks this season.
After the second rain delay, Pegula managed to overcome a challenging situation of being 40-0 down in her first service game and eventually won three straight games to take a commanding 3-0 lead. From 4-2 down in the second set, Rybakina won four games in a row to seal the win after 1 hour and 51 minutes.
The Hologic WTA Tour’s ace leader Rybakina has struck ten or more aces in her last five matches. Her opponent in the final will be the winner of the semi between Petra Kvitova and Sorana Cirstea.
