Fourth seed Elena Rybakina moved into the Miami last for the second straight 12 months with a gutsy win towards Victoria Azarenka in a deciding tie-break.
Kazakhstan’s Rybakina, 24, recovered from an terrible second set to win 6-4 0-6 7-6 (7-2) towards the Belarusian.
Rybakina confirmed resilience within the last levels, having led 5-3 earlier than dropping serve at 5-4 as Azarenka levelled.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion will face unseeded Danielle Collins or 14th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova within the last.
Final 12 months, Rybakina was crushed by Czech Petra Kvitova to the trophy as she aimed to finish the ‘Sunshine Double’ of back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and Miami.
Now she is the favorite to land the WTA 1000 prize towards American Collins or Russia’s Alexandrova on Saturday.
“It was such a troublesome battle, this event was a goal from day one and I am glad I made it to the ultimate,” mentioned Rybakina, who missed Indian Wells earlier this month by means of sickness.
“I knew I’d battle until the top and that is what I did. I switched off my thoughts within the tie-break and simply went for it.”