MIAMI/STARNBERG, March 29, 2024

Danielle Collins of the United States advanced to the championship match of the Miami Open presented by Itau with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia on Thursday. Collins was all business as the World No. 53 took just 74 minutes to secure her first final since the Australian Open in 2022 and the first WTA Tour 1000 series final of her career.

COME ON 🗣

Danielle Collins reaches her first WTA 1000 final!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/S12hwYk1Ky

— wta (@WTA) March 29, 2024

“This feels like a really big accomplishment. I think all of us want to make finals of 1000-level tournaments,” said Collins. “These are our biggest tournaments of the year, aside from the Grand Slams. This is just so special. I can’t stress it enough about being in my home state and having my dog here, friends, family. It’s really special.”

Rybakina returns to Miami Open final

Fourth favourite Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan reached her second consecutive Miami Open final, battling past No. 27 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(2) after two hours and 33 minutes.

“Last year it was different conditions. I was coming from Indian Wells, with a lot of wins,” Rybakina said. “This year it’s much different. I was not expecting honestly to be in the final, because I was not prepared that well for this tournament. But really happy that I managed to battle through all these matches and be in the final again.”