Sinner, Cirstea Upsets Sabalenka Before Rains Wipe Out Miami Masters Night Session; Rybakina v Pegula SF
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Just two of the four scheduled quarterfinals at the Miami Masters were completed on Wednesday, and those were from the night session.
Aryna Sabalenka began the day as the tournament favorite but the Australian Open champion was stunned in routine fashion by the hot-handed veteran from Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-4.
The 32-year-old Cirstea lost just five points on first serve while breaking the Belarussian five times including early in both sets in this first-time meeting. But Sabalenka nearly fought back with two break chances as Cirstea served for the match at 5-4 in the second.
Cirstea enjoys one her best wins of her career to reach one of her biggest semifinals.
“I think I’m a bit speechless,” Cirstea said. “I came out knowing that it’s going to be a really tough match. Aryna hits so hard, so I knew I had to hold my ground, and I’m very, very happy with my performance today.
“I guess people like to keep count of the age, the years, the results, but I never do that. I just mind my own business, work hard, do my thing, believe in my game, work with my coach Thomas Johansson — we just started in December and so far, I think it’s going great.
Italian star Jannik Sinner followed and the former finalist didn’t disappoint hammering 24-year-old Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.
Sinner lost just nine total points on serve and saved the lone break point her faced in the rout.
Sinner, who improves to 5-0 against the Finnish No. 1, moves into his 16th career semifinal, second in Miami.
“We both played well today but I won the important points,” Sinner said after the 75-minute win. “It’s never easy when you are up and you get interrupted, but I came back and played well.”
Tomorrow, the other three quarterfinals will be contested with the delayed Carlos Alcaraz-Tayor Fritz tussle. Daniil Medvedev meets American qualifier Chris Eubanks and Karen Khachanov collides with former semifinalist Francisco Cerundolo.
In the women’s draw, in the afternoon Petra Kvitova will take on Ekaterina Alexandrova in the last quarter. Then in the evening, Jessica Pegula will take on Elena Rybakina in the first semifinal/
THURSDAY MIAMI MASTERS SCHEDULE
STADIUM
Matches Start At: 1:00 pm
ATP [Q] Christopher EUBANKS (USA) vs Daniil MEDVEDEV [4]
Not Before 3:00 PM
WTA Ekaterina Alexandrova [18] vs Petra Kvitova (CZE) [15]
Not Before 7:00 pm
ATP Carlos ALCARAZ (ESP) [1] vs Taylor FRITZ (USA) [9]
Not Before 8:30 pm
WTA Elena Rybakina (KAZ) [10] vs Jessica Pegula (USA) [3]
GRANDSTAND
Not Before 3:00 pm
ATP Francisco CERUNDOLO (ARG) [25] vs Karen KHACHANOV [14]
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