Rybakina wins three-set thriller to reach Miami final
Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina was pushed to the limit before beating veteran Victoria Azarenka in a third-set tiebreaker in the semi-finals of the Miami Open.
Rybakina, ranked fourth on the WTA Tour, was force-fed a "bagel" in the second set, but bounced back to beat the Belarusian 27th seed 6-4 0-6 7-6 (7-2) on Thursday (Friday AEDT).
In the final Rybakina will face unseeded American Danielle Collins, who beat No.14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, of Russia, 6-3 6-2 in the other semi.
Rybakina also made last year's final before losing in straight sets to Petra Kvitova.
A day off will no doubt be welcome for Rybakina, who has been pushed to three sets in all but one match this tournament.
Her semi-final lasted two hours and 33 minutes.
"It was such a tough battle," Rybakina, a Moscow-born Kazakh, said after reaching her fourth final of the year.
"I didn't serve that well and also Vika, from the second set, she was hitting the serve very well.
"It was difficult, but I knew I was going to fight until the end and actually that's what I did."
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 after the second set when Azarenka lost only two points on her serve - and one of those came from a double fault.
But Azarenka wasn't done. With Rybakina serving for the match, the Belarusian 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 trying to become the tournament's oldest winner. She became the second-oldest semi-finalist - 36-year-old Venus Williams made the semis in 2017.