Azarenka battles to Miami semis; Alcaraz into quarters
Three-time Miami Open winner Victoria Azarenka battled for nearly three hours to get past a determined Yulia Putintseva and take her place in the semi-finals with a 7-6 [7/4], 1-6, 6-3 win on Tuesday, while top seed Carlos Alcaraz made it into the quarter-finals of the men's event. The 34-year-old Azarenka, who won in Miami in 2009, 2011 and 2016, had to save three set points on Putintseva's serve at 5-4 in the first set, then missed out on two set points of her own at 6-5 before the tie-break. Putintseva dominated the second set but Azarenka found the strength to get ahead in the third but still her opponent refused to relent, fighting off match point before breaking. But Azarenka held on her next serve to secure passage to the last four, where she will face Elena Rybakina for a place in the final. Fourth-seeded Rybakina, both the highest seeded and the youngest player left in the tournament, held off a strong challenge from eighth-seed Maria Sakkari of Greece before emerging with a 7-5, 6-7 [4/7], 6-4 win. In the men's event defending champion Daniil Medvedev and Alcaraz marched into the quarter-finals with convincing victories. Medvedev earned a 7-6 [7/5], 6-0 win over Germany's Dominik Koepfer, setting up last-eight tie against Chilean Nicolas Jarry.  Jarry upset Norwegian seventh seed Ruud with a 7-6 [7/3], 6-3 win. While Alcaraz took care of Italian Lorenzo Musetti with a 6-3, 6-3 win in 85 minutes and will face Grigor Dimitrov in the quarters. The Bulgarian beat Pole Hubert Hurkacz, triumphing in a third set tie-break for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 [7/3] win. Second seed Jannik Sinner of Italy also moved into the last eight beating Christopher O'Connell of Australia 6-4, 6-3. Sinner will face Czech Tomas Machac who eased into the quarters with a 6-3, 6-3 win over another Italian, Matteo Arnaldi. Hungary's Fabian Marozsan, ranked 57th in the world, continued his impressive run with another upset win, triumphing 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 over ninth seed Australian Alex de Minaur. Maroszan, who will break into the top 40 in Monday's rankings, is playing in just his fourth Masters 1000 event and will play in his second quarter-final at this level against the winner of the match between Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov being played later on Tuesday. (AFP)