Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Timea Bacsinszky 7-5 6-3 to return to the Miami Open Final ten years after her triumph over Maria Sharapova in this tournament. The Russian player fended off 12 of the 14 break points she faced in today’s semifinal.
Kuznetsova came into the semifinal after winning all her matches against Carina Witthoeft, Caroline Garcia, Serena Williams and Ekaterina Makarova in three sets.
In the third game Kuznetsova was forced to deuce but managed to hold her serve to take a 2-1 lead. In the fourth game Bacsinszky went down 15-30 but held her serve as Kuznetsova made three backhand unforced errors. At 2-2 Bacsinszky earned two break points but Makarova saved them. The first set went on serve until the 8th game when Bacsinszky faced a break point at 30-40 but Kuznetsova made two crosscourt forehand errors. Kuznetsova wasted a 40-15 lead when she hit a forehand into the net to face a break point but she managed to save it.
Bacsinszky earned a double break point in the 10th game. She hit a return long on the first break point chance. Kuznetsova hit a running backhand down the line to fend off the second break point.
The Russian player saved all the five break point chances she faced in the first 11 games of the first set.
At 5-6 Bacsinszky netted a backhand to face a set point on her serve. On a 16-shot rally Kuznetsova hit a forehand volley into the open court to convert one of her just two break point chances for 7-5.
Bacsinszky got the break in the first game of the second set but Kuznetsova broke straight back.
Kuznetsova faced a triple break point in the third game but she saved all three chances and held her serve with a running forehand down the line for 2-1. Kuznetsova broke again to open up a 3-1 lead but Bacsinszky broke back. Kuznetsova got another break (the fifth break in the first six games of the second set) for 4-2. Kuznetsova held her serve for 5-2 with a half-volley winner. As she was serving for the match Kuznetsova saved three break points. The Russian player hit an ace to earn the match point and clinched the win with a crosscourt backhand on her first opportunity after 1 hour and 56 minutes to extend her winning streak to 3-0 against her Swiss rival.
Kuznetsova will face either 2016 Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber or two-time Miami Open champion Victoria Azarenka. Kuznetsova won four of her seven head-to-head matches against Kerber and is tied 4-4 in her head-to head matches against Azarenka.
“I enjoyed the fight and I am happy I am still able to play against the best players in the world. I was praying to finish it in two sets so I would have a little more time to rest”, said Kuznetsova.
Bacsinszky failed to convert 12 of her 14 break point chances. “I played well but Svetlana played better when she saved my break points. However, this tournament gives me a lot of energy for the future”, said Bacsinszky.
