Katie Boulter sees record Miami Open run come crashing to an end
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Katie Boulter, who is the highest-ranked female tennis player from Britain, failed to make it to the quarter-finals of the Miami Open. She was defeated by Victoria Azarenka in two sets without winning any.
Boulter achieved an impressive feat by defeating Beatriz Haddad Maia in the previous round and proceeding to make it to the tournament's last 16, a first for her. However, her journey in Florida came to an end as her experienced adversary wore her down.
Azarenka, a former top-ranked player in the world, won the initial marathon set which turned out to be crucial as Boulter struggled to maintain her performance in the second set and eventually lost the match 7-5, 6-1.
Azarenka, who won the Australian Open twice, appeared to be sailing towards an easy victory over the recent champion of the San Diego Open when she took a commanding 5-2 lead in the first set.
Boulter, who is ranked 30th in the world, had already experienced several break opportunities against her, but had to defend against a few set points as well. The eighth game turned out to be particularly crucial.
Boulter was motivated by this and managed to regain a point against her Belarusian opponent. Later on, she was able to maintain her lead to bring the score to a tie at 5-5.
Nonetheless, with a tie-breaking occurrence about to happen, Azarenka exhibited her expertise to secure a further breakout against the British player prior to concluding a first set that lasted 71 minutes.
The game's momentum had now shifted and Azarenka managed to break Boulter at the beginning of the second round.
After taking another break, Boulter served poorly and this allowed Azarenka to move into the last round of eight. Azarenka will be competing against Yulia Putintseva.
Iga Swiatek, who currently holds the top rank in the world, was unable to secure the Miami title after having claimed victory at Indian Wells. She suffered a defeat, losing 6-4, 6-2 to Ekaterina Alexandrova, who was seeded 14th.
In a surprising turn of events, Ekaterina Alexandrova emerged victorious over Iga Swiatek, who currently holds the top spot in the world rankings.
The section of the blog was sourced from USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con.
At the start of the match, Alexandrova managed to gain an advantage by winning the opening game. She dominated Swiatek by playing powerfully from the back of the court and also with her serves.
"I am thrilled to have reached my second quarter-final here, two years in a row," exclaimed Alexandrova. "It feels incredible to finally beat Iga after many attempts, especially since she's ranked number one. This is the first time I have ever defeated a top-ranked player and it means a lot to me."
In my opinion, it's great when it functions properly, however, on occasion it malfunctions. Nevertheless, today it operated successfully.
The fifth seed emerged victorious with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Emma Navarro, setting up a quarterfinal clash with American Jessica Pegula.
In another location, Caroline Garcia, who is ranked 23rd globally, defeated Coco Gauff with a score of 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. In addition, former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina advanced to the quarter-finals alongside Garcia after beating Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5.
