Sloane Stephens beats Victoria Azarenka to set up Miami Open final against Jelena Ostapenko

Ostapenko will be her opponent after she beat qualifier Danielle Collins 7-6 (7/1) 6-3

Friday 30 March 2018 03:38 EDT
Comments
Sloane Stephens is in superb form
Sloane Stephens is in superb form (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

US Open winner Sloane Stephens saw off three-time Miami Open winner Victoria Azarenka to book a place in the final in Florida.

The Belarusian former world number one was given a wildcard into the tournament and had already seen off Karolina Pliskova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Anastasija Sevastova en route to the last four.

Azarenka took the first set 6-3 in 46 minutes, after breaking Stephens twice for a 3-0 lead, but then being broken back twice for 3-3.

The 186th-ranked Azarenka broke the American twice more to seal the set.

The three-time champion fell to an inspired Stephens
The three-time champion fell to an inspired Stephens (Getty)

Four double faults in the second brought Stephens back into contention as Azarenka lost three consecutive service games.

Stephens made short work of her opponent in the deciding set taking it 6-1.

Jelena Ostapenko will be her opponent after she beat qualifier Danielle Collins 7-6 (7/1) 6-3.

Collins had already seen off Venus Williams in the quarter-finals but met her match against the Latvian, who was ruthless in the first set tie-break breaking her four times as Ostapenko took the first set.

The second was less of a dogfight - the world number five breaking Collins in the opening game and closing out the set on the first match point.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in