Petra Kvitova downs Sorana Cirstea in straight sets to set up Miami Open final against Elena Rybakina

Petra Kvitova had to recover from a big first-set deficit to come through her semi-final with Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-4 and set up a Miami Open final against Elena Rybakina. It will be Kvitova's first final of the season, and her first in Miami in her career. Ad And though Rybakina is one of the form players on the WTA Tour — reaching the final of the Australian Open and winning in Indian Wells — Kvitova said afterwards that she can go into the match with a view to springing a surprise.

WTA MiamiKvitova reaches Miami Open semi-finals for first time with nail-biting Alexandrova victoryYESTERDAY AT 22:16 «I feel great to be in the final, that's the most important thing for me,» Kvitova told Amazon Prime. «We have head-to-head 1-1, so we'll see how we're going to go tomorrow [in Saturday's final]. »Elena is playing amazing, I can just surprise right? Who knows." In a battle of the experienced heads — Cirstea 32 and Kvitova 33 — it was the Romanian who made the first move in the opening set.

The pair matched each other on the scoreline until game six, when Cirstea took her fourth break point to take a 5-2 lead, and a chokehold on proceedings. However, things completely turned around from that point. First Kvitova held for 5-3, then she broke as Cirstea served for the set to take things back level at 5-5.