Eighth-seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Russian third-seed Vera Zvonareva 6-0, 6-3 in a night match to reach the final of the $9 million WTA and ATP Masters tournament .
Azarenka faces former world number one Maria Sharapova today who rallied for a 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory over German Andrea Petkovic in the other semi-final.
“More than anything, I sensed that she was tired, probably a lot of the dancing that she’s been doing,” Sharapova said of the German’s trademark victory jig. “I took advantage of it.”
Sharapova, seeded 16th, overcame her slow start by winning 11 straight games en route to a three-set win. Today Sharapova will be seeking her first title since May 2010, and her first in Miami.
Nadal defeats Berdych
Meanwhile on the men’s front, World number one Rafael Nadal will square off against Swiss rival Roger Federer in a rare semi-final showdown that will be their first match on American soil in six years.
Spain’s Nadal reached the last-four by beating Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Third-seed Federer barely broke a sweat as his quarter-final match was called off after just 10 minutes when Frenchman Gilles Simon could not continue because of a neck injury.
Federer and Nadal, who have 110 career singles titles between them, last faced each other in the US in the 2005 Miami championship game in which Federer rallied from two sets down to beat Nadal.
‘A special rivalry’
“For me, it’s like a really special thing when we play each other,” said Nadal. “Because we always play really important matches. That makes the rivalry very, very special.”
The two giants have met 20 times since their last meeting in Miami with Nadal winning 13 of those, including a dozen finals. In their 22 career meetings, just three have been in the semis of a tournament.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2011.
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