The 15th-seeded Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) qualified for the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Miami Open after defeating the Russian tennis player Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) by 2-1 (6:4, 3:6, 6:3) in a match that lasted 2:13 hours.
Petra Kvitova started convincingly the match reaching two breakpoints in the first game and despite failing to realize them, broke her opponent in the third game and took a lead. The Czech player was stable enough on her serve and did not give a breakpoint to Ekaterina Alexandrova, which proved to be enough to win the set by 6:4.
In the second set, however, things changed and the Russian player improved her serve and pressed her opponent more. Despite that games were running equally, Ekaterina Alexandrova succeeded to take a lead with a break in the 6th game to 4:2. Thus, the Russian won the set by 6:3 and equalized the set.
Both players started cautiously in the third set and won their serve games convincingly. Ekaterina Alexandrova first reached a breakpoint in the 8th game, but her opponent saved it and equalized to 4:4. In the next game, however, Petra Kvitova reached two breakpoints and succeeded to win the second, thus taking an important lead of 5:4. The Czech served for the match and lead by 40-15 and won the second match point, winning the set by 6:4 and the match.
In the semi-finals, Petra Kvitova will face Sorana Cirstea (Romania), who defeated Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:4).
