Top seed defending champion Ashley Barty defeated former world number one Victoria Azarenka 6–1, 1–6, 6–2 in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open on Monday. Australia’s Barty broke five times, the last when Azarenka netted a forehand volley after an hour and 52 minutes to end matters at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Barty was to save a match point on the way to a three-set win over Kristina Kukova in the second round, who would be the winner in the next round, between Belarus seventh seed Arya Sabalenka or Czech 19th seed Wondroševa.
Barty, the 2019 French Open winner, dominated the first set, but Azarenka broke it for a 2–0 lead, then fought back 0–40 and stopped 3–0 on the way to force a third set. The Australian team, who finished second in the second set, failed by one point.
Barty and Azarenka traded breaks in the second and third games of the final set. Azarenka denied Barty two break opportunities in the fourth game, but the 24-year-old Queenslander took the lead in the sixth and regained the final point.
In the men’s section, 32-year-old Marin Cilic of Croatia beat Italy’s 19-year-old Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4 in 74 minutes to reach the 16th round.
“Very happy today,” Cilic said. “Just have to go to war with these young men. I have to hold my head high for the veterans on the tour.”
World No. 45 Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, seems to be working his way back into match fitness.
He said, “I feel really good at practices. The off season was really good.” “Just missing matches. It just hurt the game a little bit.”
The next Russian for Cilic is fourth-seeded Andrey Rublev or Hungary’s 40th ranked Marten Fukovics.
Promoted
Milos Raonic of Canada advanced to 19th, with a 6-4, 7-5 win over 30th-ranked Ugo Humbart of France.
He will take on sixth seed Dennis Shapovalov of Canada or 26th seed Hubert Harkaj of Poland in the next round.
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