WTA Miami: Ashleigh Barty beats Victoria Azarenka, Elina Svitolina turns match against Petra Kvitova
Ashleigh Barty and Elina Svitolina are in the quarterfinals of the Miami WTA 1000 tournament. Both had to fight hard for their victories in the round of 16.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Mar 29, 2021, 07:34 pm
Ashleigh Barty is getting better and better at her first international tournament appearance in over a year: After the world number one faced a match point against Kristina Kucova in the second round of the WTA 1000 event in Miami, she is now in Florida Quarter finals.
In the round of 16, the Australian beat Victoria Azarenka in three sets. The first two rounds went clearly to one of the players, in the all-important third section the fifth game marked the preliminary decision: Barty fended off two breakballs from her opponent and then did not give up a game. After the 6: 1, 1: 6 and 6: 2 successes, the 24-year-old meets Aryna Sabalenka or Marketa Vondrousova in the round of the last eight.
Svitolina wins after a roller coaster ride
Elina Svitolina is also in the quarter-finals. The Ukrainian turned her round of 16 match against Petra Kvitova after losing the starting set and finally asserted herself in three contested rounds. The Czech, who had only given seven games in her previous two games in Miami, started furiously and secured section one 6-2.
After that, Svitolina found the game better and better: From 4: 5 from her point of view in the second set, the Ukrainian went six games in a row before Kvitova started a comeback and took the lead 4: 3 in the third set. The next two games went back to Svitolina, but the fifth in the world rankings could only serve up in the second attempt: After a little less than 2:30 hours of play, the 26-year-olds won 2: 6, 7: 5 and 7: 5. She is now dealing with Anastasija Sevastova or Ana Konjuh.