Miami, March 30: The world’s top-ranked player Ash Barty reached the Miami Open quarterfinals, getting there by holding off 14th-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.
It was Barty’s 17th win in her last 20 three-set matches, two of those victories for the Australian coming so far in this tournament. “That’s a cool stat,” Barty said.
No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine needed nearly 2½ hours to beat ninth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 and earn her ticket to the quarterfinals. Svitolina matched her best Miami finish by making the quarters. Barty will next face No. 7 seed Aryna Sabalenka, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over No. 19 seed Marketa Vondrousova.
Svitolina will play unseeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in the quarters; Sevastova was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over wild-card Ana Konjuh of Croatia.
No. 2 women’s seed Naomi Osaka of Japan ran her winning streak to 23 matches and moved into the quarters by topping No. 16 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium, 6-3, 6-3. Mertens later needed a medical timeout that lasted about 10 minutes while she left the court to get treatment on the area below her right shoulder. She didn’t win another game.
Osaka next meets No. 23 Maria Sakkari of Greece, who won a 2-hour, 38-minute marathon over No. 29 Jessica Pegula of the U.S. Sakkari fended off six match points and won 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (6).
Unseeded Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain got her fourth win of the tournament, all of them three-setters. She topped No. 27 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-4, 0-6, 6-1. She meets No. 8 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada in the quarterfinal.
On the men’s side, Sebastian Korda of the U.S. got his second consecutive win over a seeded foe, this one a 6-3, 6-0 romp past No. 17 Aslan Karatsev of Russia. Korda’s reward is a matchup with No. 5 seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in the round of 16.
No. 26-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland upset sixth-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada 6-3, 7-6 (6). Shapovalov was clearly frustrated with some calls that the Hawk-Eye Live technology — the system that replaces live lines judges with cameras — saw one way and he saw another way.
No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece topped No. 28 Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Tsitsipas meets No. 24 Lorenzo Sonnego of Italy, a 7-6 (6), 6-3 winner over Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia.
In other third-round men’s matchups, Schwartzman defeated 25th-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France 6-1, 6-4; 12th-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada topped 20th-seeded Ugo Humbert of France 6-4, 7-5; and 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic of Croatia defeated Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4. Cilic will meet fourth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia next. Rublev rolled past Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-2, 6-1 — beating him head-to-head for the third time in the last 22 days, and that does not include a walkover victory over Fucsovics in Qatar in that span. (AP)
