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. 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.
