Timea Bacsinszky rallies from a set down to reach the China Open final and break the top-10 - UBITENNIS
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Timea Bacsinszky rallies from a set down to reach the China Open final and break the top-10

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Timea Bacsinszky rallied from a set down to overcome Ana Ivanovic in three sets to reach her biggest final at the China Open Premier Mandatory. With this win the Swiss player has broken into the top-10 for the first time in her career.

Bacsinszky earned two break point chances in the third games but Ivanovic saved them to take a 2-1 lead before getting the first break of the match for 3-1.

The Lausanne player earned break-back chances but Ivanovic held her nerve and won the game. Bacsinszky had a good service game to win the sixth game before breaking serve in the next game for 3-4. She clawed her way back into the match winning her third game in a row to draw level to 4-4. In the ninth game Bacsinszky earned two break point chances but Ivanovic won four consecutive points to save them and took the 5-4 edge. Bacsinszky had a strong service game to draw level to 5-all. Ivanovic won the 11th game with a solid service game before clinching the decisive break in the 12th game to take the first set with 7-5 after 58 minutes

Ivanovic struggled with her serve in the second set. Bacsinszky broke serve for the third time in the match to pull away to 4-1 and held her serve easily in the next game.

Bacsinszky served for the set at 5-1 but Ivanovic clawed her way back winning three games in a row for 4-5. The Serbian star brought up two break points and cae close to drawing level to 5-all but Bacsinszky held her serve before serving out for the second set for 6-4 after a hard-fought final game.

Ivanovic suffered from a back problem and called for a medical time-out as she was 1-2 down. Bacsinszky won the 4th game on serve to love and broke serve in the next game for 4-1 as the back problem affected Iavnovic. Bacsinszky won the final two games in the third set cruising to 6-1 after two hours and 20 minutes. Baczinsszky reeled off 16 of the final 17 points of the match. For the third tim this week Bacsinszky won a match after recovering from a set down. She won her previous two matches in Beijing against Carla Suarez Navarro and Sara Errani with 7-5 in the third set.

Ivanovic produced 38 winners to 41 unforced errors, while Bacsinszky hit 22 winners to 22 unforced errors

Bacsinszky has reached for her biggest final as she has never qualified for a title match in her career at Premier level. Earlier this year she won two titles in Acapulco and Monterrey. She has moved up to world number 10 for the first time in her career, a remarkable achievement considering that she was ranked 47th at the start of the year. She has become the fourth Swiss player to break into the top-10 after Manuela Maleva Fragnière, Martina Hingis and Patty Schnyder.

Bacsinszky will need to win the China Open title to stay in contention for the WTA Finals in Singapore, while Ivanovic will no longer have the chance to qualify for the end-of-the year tournament.

“I want to thank the crowd. Many people have been cheering for me. I am sorry for Ana’s fans too. You were cheering for her a lot. I love you crowd. You are an awesome crowd”, said Bacsinszky.

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Undeterred Danielle Collins Hits Back At Those Questioning Retirement Decision

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Danielle Collins is two wins away from claiming the biggest title of her career in Miami but no matter what happens she will still be retiring later this year. 

The former world No.7 caught many off guard during the Australian Open in January when she confirmed publically for the first time that 2024 will be her last season. Her announcement came shortly after a tough three-set loss to world No.1 Iga Swiatek and at the time some questioned if she made that comment in the heat of the moment. However, the 30-year-old has her mind made up as she enjoys her latest surge in form. 

At the Miami Open, she has defeated seeded players Anastasia Potapova, Sorana Cirstea and Caroline Garcia en route to the semi-finals. Making it the second time in her career that she has reached this stage of the tournament after 2018 when she did so as a qualifier. In her latest match, she dropped only five games during her 6-3, 6-2, win over a in-form Garcia. Garcia defeated Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff earlier in the tournament. 

Following her latest victory, Collins faced more questions about her decision to retire. Once again she reiterated her results on the Tour would have no impact before questioning why she has to keep justifying herself. 

“I think it’s really interesting how in a lot of different situations I have had to kind of justify the reasons behind retirement,” Collins points out. “I’m living with a chronic inflammatory disease that affects your ability to get pregnant. So that’s a deeply personal situation. I’ve kind of explained that from time to time.
“This is my personal choice. This is so much more to do than just tennis and my career. I’m enjoying my career. I’m having a lot of fun; I love coming out here and competing. But at the end of the day, like, this is a really big life decision. I think that that should be pretty understandable.”

Collins, who turned 30 last December, says she feels there more scrutiny about her decision to retire because of her gender. 

“I find it interesting because I kind of felt like when I was announcing my retirement everyone has been congratulating me and so excited for me, but then on the other hand, I feel like I have had to justify my decision a lot. I feel like if I was a guy, I probably wouldn’t have to justify it that much.” She commented.

So far in her career, Collins has won two WTA titles which was during 2021. The following year she reached her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open. 

In Miami, the American will play Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the final. 

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‘A Great Challenge’ – Daniil Medvedev Ready For Sinner Showdown In Miami

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(credit Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium)

Daniil Medvedev says his semi-final clash with Jannik Sinner at the Miami Open provides him with an opportunity to improve his game further. 

The defending champion booked a showdown with the Italian after beating Nicolas Jarry 6-2, 7-6(7), on Wednesday. It is the 14th time that Medvedev has reached the last four of a Masters 1000 event. In his latest match, the Russian hit 12 winners and won 80% of his first service points. 

Medvedev’s next challenge will be the formidable Sinner who has won 20 out of 21 matches he has played so far this season. It will be their first clash on the Tour since the Australian Open final where Medvedev won the first two sets before losing in five. 

“He’s playing better and better,” the reigning Miami champion Medvedev said of Sinner. “He’s confident, some matches where you look on TV, where he’s maybe a little bit in trouble, he manages to find solutions – that’s what champions do.
“It’s a great challenge for me to continue improving my game – I’ll try to show my 100 percent and go for it.”

Overall, the two tennis stars have faced each other 10 times on the Tour before this week. Medvedev dominated their rivalry early on by winning all six of their first matches played. Then it was Sinner’s turn to dictate proceedings with the 22-year-old winning their four most recent meetings. 

Another factor in their rivalry is the competitiveness between the two with more than half of their matches (six out of 10) going the distance. 

“It’s going to be a very tactical match potentially because I have to be ready if he starts off in a similar way as in Australia.” Sinner said following his 6-4, 6-2, win over Tomas Machac. 
“I have to be ready and try to understand it (Medvedev’s game) before. Maybe he’s gonna change a couple of things. So let’s see. It’s going to be an interesting test for me. Hopefully, I can show some good tennis.”

Medvedev is aiming to become the man to defend their title at the Miami Open since Novak Djokovic in 2016. It would also be the first time in his career that he has won the same tournament twice. 

The upcoming semi-final clash is set to take place on Friday. 

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Miami Open Daily Preview: Elena Rybakina Plays Victoria Azarenka in the Semifinals

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Elena Rybakina on Tuesday in Miami (twitter.com/miamiopen)

The men’s singles quarterfinals conclude on Thursday, while the women’s singles semifinals will both be played.

2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina faces three-time Miami Open champ Victoria Azarenka on Thursday.  The other WTA semifinal sees Ekaterina Alexandrova, who has now taken out top five seeds in consecutive rounds (Swiatek, Pegula), play an in-form American in Danielle Collins,

Plus, the second two ATP singles quarterfinals will be contested.  2022 champ Carlos Alcaraz squares off against Grigor Dimitrov, who has been playing some of the best tennis of his career.  And 2018 runner-up Sascha Zverev takes on Fabian Marozsan, a red-hot Hungarian who is now 14-3 at Masters 1000 level.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Thursday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.


Elena Rybakina (4) vs. Victoria Azarenka (27) – Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court

Rybakina is 21-3 on the year, after surviving a stern test from an in-form Maria Sakkari on Tuesday night.  Elena has already claimed two titles this season (Brisbane, Abu Dhabi), and reached another final (Doha).  This is her seventh WTA 1000 semifinal since last March, and she’s 4-2 in this round.

Azarenka is 14-5 this season, and has now accumulated 44 match wins at this event, the most of any WTA 1000 tournament.  She defeated two seeded players to this stage (Zheng, Boulter), both in straight sets.  This is a fifth Miami Open semifinal for the three-time champ.

Rybakina is 3-0 against Azarenka, with all three meetings occurring within the last few years on hard courts.  She took the first two in straight sets, and then split sets with Vika last month in Dubai, before Azarenka retired.  Despite Vika’s great history at this tournament, recent form dictates Elena must be considered the favorite to achieve a second consecutive final in Miami. 


Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (11) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court

Coming off his title run in Indian Wells, Alcaraz has been in stellar form.  He has not dropped a set through three matches, playing confident and composed tennis.  Carlitos is vying for a third straight semifinal appearance in Miami.

Until this week, this was the only Masters 1000 event where Dimitrov had failed to reach the quarterfinals or better, and he held a losing record of 11-12 in Miami.  But across the past six months, Grigor has been playing at a very high level.  Since the Shanghai Masters in October, he’s gone 28-7, and advanced to three tournament finals.  In the last round, he looked completely gassed at the end of a near three-hour match against Hubert Hurkacz, yet escaped in a third-set tiebreak.

Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 3-1, though Dimitrov’s only victory was their most recent encounter, six months ago in Shanghai when Grigor began this nice run.  But beating Carlitos again when the Spaniard is seemingly at the peak of his abilities will be an entirely different story.  And considering Dimitrov is just 2-8 in Masters semifinals, Alcaraz should be favored on Thursday.


Other Notable Matches on Thursday:

Sascha Zverev (4) vs. Fabian Marozsan – Zverev is yet to drop a set, and ousted Karen Khachanov in the last round.  Marozsan has now reached the fourth round or better in all four of his Masters 1000 appearances, and already took out two top 10 seeds during this fortnight (Rune, de Minaur).  This will be their first career meeting.

Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) vs. Danielle Collins – As per Diego Barbiani on Twitter, Alexandrova’s comeback win over Pegula was the first time she’s beaten a top 10 player after losing the first set, coming after 25 losses.  Collins has played ferociously to achieve her second WTA 1000 semifinal, taking 10 consecutive sets where her opponent has failed to win more than three games.  This is another first-time encounter.


Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.

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