Elena Rybakina beat Madison Keys 6-3 7-5 in windy conditions to reach her second consecutive quarter final at the Miami Open.
Rybakina, who reached the final in Miami last year, did not face a break point in the first set. The Kazakh player missed her first four break points across two games, but she earned the break at 5-3 as Keys sent a backhand long.
Rybakina broke serve to open up a 3-1 lead in the second set, but Keys pulled back on serve with her fine returning and net attacks. Rybakina broke serve to take a 6-5 lead.
Last year’s Miami Open finalist Rybakina achieved her first straight-set win at this year’s year edition after beating Claura Tauson and Taylor Townsend in her previous two rounds.
Rybakina has drawn to 2-2 in head four head-to-head matches against Keys, who was bidding to return to the quarter finals at the Miami Open for the first time since 2016.
Keys beat Rybakina at Roland Garros and Cincinnati in 2022. Rybakina claimed her only previous win over Keys in Ostrava two years ago.
Rybakina set up a match against this year’s Indian Wells finalist Maria Sakkari, who reached her second quarter final in Miami via walkover after Anna Kalinskaya was forced to withdraw from her her fourth round match due to a right thigh injury.
Rybakina leads 2-1 over Sakkari in their previous three head-to-head matches.
Rybakina beat Sakkari twice in St. Petersburg semifinals in 2020 (3-6 7-5 6-1) and in the round robin group at the WTA Finals in Cancun by the scoreline of 6-0 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-4). Sakkari claimed her only win over Rybakina in the quarter final at Indian Wells in 2022 by the scoreline of 7-5 6-4.
Yulia Putintseva came back from 2-4 down in the second set to beat Anhelina Kalininina 6-4 7-6 (7-5). Putintseva saved two set points in the second set to reach her fifth quarter final at WTA 1000 or Grand Slam level following Roland Garros 2016 and 2018, the US Open 2020, Rome 2020 and Toronto 2022.
