Katie Boulter loses to Victoria Azarenka in Miami Open

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Katie Boulter, the top-ranked British tennis player, was unable to advance to the quarter-finals of the Miami Open tournament. She was defeated in two consecutive sets by Victoria Azarenka.

Boulter made a breakthrough by defeating Beatriz Haddad Maia in the previous round and reached the last-16 of the tournament for the first time. However, her journey in Florida came to an end as she was defeated by her experienced opponent.

In the initial round of the marathon match, Azarenka, a former top-ranked tennis player, emerged victorious. This turned out to be a game-changer as Boulter struggled to maintain her performance in the following set, ultimately losing 7-5 6-1.

Azarenka, who has won the Australian Open twice, appeared to be headed towards an easy victory against the current San Diego Open champion. She was in the lead with a score of 5-2 in the first set.

At the time, Boulter, who is ranked 30th in the world, had already encountered numerous opportunities for her opponent to break her serve. However, during the eighth game, which turned out to be the deciding one, she had to defend against a series of opportunities for her rival to win the set.

This motivated Boulter, causing her to regain a point against her Belarusian opponent. She then managed to hold her position once more, resulting in a tied score of 5-5.

Nevertheless, as the prospect of a tie-break loomed, Azarenka exhibited her seasoned skills to secure yet another break against her British opponent. Eventually, she successfully concluded the first set which had lasted for 71 minutes.

Now, the game's momentum had considerably shifted and Azarenka proceeded to gain an advantage over Boulter by breaking her serve at the beginning of the second set.

After a pause, Boulter had another unsuccessful service return which guaranteed Azarenka's spot in the quarterfinals, where she will compete against Yulia Putintseva.

Iga Swiatek, the top-ranked player in the world, had her eyes set on winning the Miami title after conquering Indian Wells. However, her dream was shattered as she suffered a defeat at the hands of Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 14th seed, in a 6-4 6-2 match.

In the beginning of the match, Alexandrova managed to dominate Swiatek by using her powerful baseline shots and skilled serves, resulting in a break of Swiatek's game.

"This is my second quarter-final in a row," Alexandrova expressed. "It feels great to defeat Iga after attempting so many times considering she holds the number one spot. It's the first time I've beaten a top-ranked player, so this victory is particularly significant to me."

In my opinion, it functions excellently at times, but occasionally malfunctions. Nevertheless, today it was operational.

Jessica Pegula of the United States has officially progressed to the quarterfinals after successfully defeating Emma Navarro with a score of 7-6 6-3, placing her as the fifth seed in the competition.

In another location, Caroline Garcia, ranked 23 in the world, defeated Coco Gauff 6-3 1-6 6-2, whereas previous Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina also advanced to the quarter-finals by triumphing over Madison Keys 6-3 7-5.