Daria Saville makes tennis history as stunning resurgence continues
Daria Saville's superb run of form has seen her clinch a special piece of history at the Miami open after beating Lucia Bronzetti to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The Aussie survived a match point, before storming back to victory over Bronzetti - becoming the lowest-ranked player to reach the final eight in the history of the tournament.
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Saville - ranked 249th in the world - prevailed 5-7 6-4 7-5 to make it nine wins in her past 11 tour matches and advance to the last eight at a WTA 1000 event for the first time since Rome 2017.
The 28-year-old is also just the fourth wildcard to go this deep in Miami - after Justine Henin in 2010, Venus Williams in 2012 and Victoria Azarenka in 2018.
In a bruising encounter featuring plenty of punishing rallies, Saville led 3-0 with a double break before lucky loser Bronzetti bounced back to take the opening set.
Saville disappeared for a toilet break - having originally arrived with her shirt inside out and had to change courtside - and broke in the third game to establish an advantage she did not relinquish.
In the final set Bronzetti broke to lead 5-3.
Saville immediately broke back but Bronzetti forced a match point in the 10th game that Saville saved.
The Australian then broke her Italian opponent to love in the next game and served out the match, closing out the three-hour encounter with a swinging forehand volley.
Daria Saville takes on Belinda Bencic in last eight
Former world No.20 Saville, who is on the comeback trail from injury which included achilles surgery last year, will face Olympic champion Belinda Bencic for a spot in the semi-finals.
Swiss 22nd-seed Bencic defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2 6-3.
Saville has climbed a staggering 500 spots in the world rankings since mid-February; she was 627th in the world and could make the top 100 if she beats Bencic.
The Aussie defeated two seeded players at Indian Wells last week in a remarkable run to the fourth round.
She recorded her first win over a top-10 opponent since 2018 when she took down Ons Jabeur, and followed that up by defeating Elise Mertens in the third round.
However, Saville's run came to an end in sad fashion when she retired with a thigh injury while trailing 1-4 to Maria Sakkari.
Saville was supposed to play Simona Halep in the second round of the Miami Open but the Romanian was forced to withdraw due to injury, in news that left her fans devastated.
The former World No.1 said she suffered a thigh injury during her Indian Wells semi-final defeat to Iga Swiatek last week and it caused her discomfort again during training in Miami.
The 30-year-old said she will now miss the Charleston Open and the start of Romania's Billie Jean King Cup campaign.
with AAP
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