Kvitova defeats Romanian opponent after a first set turnaround and will play the final in Miami

Petra Kvitova challenged Sorana Cîrstea of Romania in her first career semi-final at the prestigious tournament in Miami. The Czech lioness overcame initial problems in the opening set and calmly confirmed her qualification to the final in the second set. She will play Elena Rybakina for the title.

Kvitova progressed through compatriot Linda Noskova, Croatia’s Donna Vekic and Russian players Varvara Grachova and Ekaterina Alexandrova in the previous Miami Open presented by Itaú 2023.

Cîrstea, who is ranked 74th in the WTA rankings, played one more match. She won all of them in two sets. In particular, she defeated Fernanda Contreras of Mexico, Caroline Garcia of France, Czechs Karolina Muchova and Marketa Vondrousova, and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Friday’s semifinal went better for the Romanian at first. After she took the Czech two-time Wimbledon winner’s serve, she even took a 5:2 lead. The world No. 12 won five games in a row to take the opening set 7:5.

In the second set, an important moment came right at the beginning when the native of Bucharest again failed to hold her serve. And since she did not get any break points, the Fulnek player was able to advance relatively calmly.

After the overall result of 7::5 and 6::4, Petra Kvitová will not have an easy job in the final. On Saturday, she will face the seventh player in the world, Elena Rybakina, who is also in good form at the moment.

Moreover, the 23-year-old star from Kazakhstan can complete the Sunshine Double. Two weeks ago she won the title in Indian Wells.

Kvitova and Rybakina are evenly matched. While last year in Ostrava the Kazakh won, in January in Adelaide one of the best Czech tennis players in history was victorious.

Among the men, Daniil Medvedev, who defeated Karen Khachanov in a three-set match between two Russians, secured his place in the final. The other finalist will be decided by Saturday’s Spanish-Italian duel between successful youngsters, namely Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

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