MIAMI
\nDanielle Collins, in her final year on the WTA Tour before retirement, booked her first ever 1000 series final in Miami on Thursday with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova.
\nThe 30-year-old Collins, will face fourth-ranked Elena Rybakina in Saturday\u2019s final. The Kazakhstan player was pushed all the way by veteran Victoria Azarenka before coming out with a 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (7\/2) victory.
\nCollins denied this week that her great run to the last four was a result of her playing with freedom after announcing her intention to retire at the end of this year.
\nBut once again the American looked relaxed and in control as she took full charge of the contest against Russia\u2019s Alexandrova, who had beaten world number one Iga Swiatek in the fourth round before downing fifth-seed Jessica Pegula of the United States. \u201cIt\u2019s even more special coming in my home state,\u201d said Collins, who hails from St. Petersburg near Tampa.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve had a couple of good years here, but this is definitely the most memorable,\u201d she added.
\nAlexandrova broke early in the first set but Collins swiftly got the contest back on serve before breaking again to go 4-2 up and take the set.
\nThe American then broke on Alexandrova\u2019s first service game in the second and ran away with the set to complete a 74 minute victory.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve followed all of her matches this tournament, it was fun watching her because we have a very similar game style. It is tricky when it is like that,\u201d said Collins.
\n\u201cThat forced me to concentrate harder, react faster and really forced me to play up at my highest level,\u201d she said.
\nThe 24-year-old Rybakina returns to the Miami final for the second straight year after losing to Czech Petra Kvitova in 2023.
\nHer form \u2014 and the absence of any of the top three in the world \u2014 suggests she will be the strong favorite against Collins.
\nSo far this year Rybakina has won titles in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi and her first WTA 1000 final of the year in Doha.
\nHer serve looked too much for Azarenka in the first set but then faded badly in the second before breaking to go 3-2 up in the third.
\nBut the 34-year-old Azarenka, a three-time winner at Miami, showed all her dogged spirit as she broke back to make it 5-5 and keep alive her hopes of an unlikely run to the final.
\nBut in the tie-break, Rybakina found her serve in spectacular fashion, leaving Azarenka helpless with a fearsome ace to go 3-0 up.
\nThe outcome never looked in doubt from that point on but 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who withdrew from her Indian Wells title defense this month because of illness, said she had been in trouble physically in the second set.
\n\u201cThere was a pause where I stayed on the court and I think I should have maybe left (for) a bit because it was really humid and tough conditions, the energy just went down and Vika came back very aggressively.
\n\u201cAfter three games when I lost so easily it was very difficult to regroup so I knew there would be a third set and I was just trying to prepare for it,\u201d she added.
\nRybakina said she was able to get in the zone for the tie-break.
\n\u201cI switched off the mind a bit for the tie-break and I just went for it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MIAMI Danielle Collins, in her final year on the WTA Tour before retirement, booked her first ever 1000 series final in Miami on Thursday with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova. The 30-year-old Collins, will face fourth-ranked Elena Rybakina in Saturday\u2019s final. The Kazakhstan player was pushed all the way by veteran Victoria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-397266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n