Collins, Alexandrova fight into last four

and Ekaterina Alexandrova will meet in the semifinals of the WTA Miami Open after victories in the last eight yesterday.

Collins powered into the last four with an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 win over France’s Caroline Garcia before Alexandrova emerged triumphant from a near two-hour three set battle with American fifth seed Jessica Pegula.

Garcia went into the match against Collins on the back of an upset win over third-seeded American Coco Gauff but was unable to get a foothold against the Floridian.

Garcia still appeared to be troubled by an injury to her right shoulder and received some treatment early in the second set.

Collins broke to go 5-3 up in the first set and then held serve for the set, then in the second set broke in the third game and never looked back as she wrapped up the win in one hour and 19 minutes.

“I think against someone like Caro, it forces me to be more concentrated. I know I don’t want to give her an inch or she can get in there,” Collins said.

Garcia said she had felt the pace of back-toback tournaments.

“It’s been a long two weeks for the body for me, between the back at the beginning and then the she shoulder which came back,” she told reporters, adding that the shoulder issue was a recurrence of a previous injury.

“I think it’s nothing too serious but (shoulder) is always quite problematic for a tennis player,” she said, before adding that Collins had played “an amazing match”.

Alexandrova beat home favorite Pegula 3-6, 64, 6-4, showing plenty of grit in a third set where both players showed signs of fatigue.

Alexandrova, who upset world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the previous round, said it was tough to break down Pegula’s gritty defence.

“I couldn’t understand how it was possible to return that ball it was always back. She was everywhere so I needed to do something,” she said. “I tried to wait and use any opportunities that I got.”

The win was Alexandrova’s third against a top five player this year and she said her success was the result of developing patience.

“You have to wait and wait and something is going to come – and then you have to use it,” she said.