Defending champion Ash Barty reached her second straight Miami Open final thanks to a straight-sets dismissal of Elina Svitolina.
The world No.1, who won the tournament the last time it was staged in 2019, beat the Ukrainian 6-3 6-3 in less than 90 minutes.
The victory sets up the first ever showdown between Barty and 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who recovered to beat 25th seed Maria Sakkari 7-6(7) 3-6 7-6(4) in a two-hour, 42-minute epic under lights.
"I've wanted to play her for a long time now, so I'm super excited for that," Andreescu said of Barty. "I know it's gonna be a really tough match, but I'm really looking forward to it."
Earlier in the day, Hubert Hurkacz continued his stunning run in South Florida with an upset 2-6 6-3 6-4 win over No.2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas held two break points for a 6-2 3-0 lead before the Pole staged a stunning comeback.
Hurkacz, ranked 37th, earlier in the tournament beat Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Milos Raonic – the sixth and 12th seeds respectively – to advance to only his second ATP Masters quarterfinal.
Hurkacz will next meet fourth seed Andrey Rublev, who struggled with rain delays and inspired young opponent Sebastian Korda before eventually winning 7-5 7-6(7).
Pole position ?@HubertHurkacz rallies past Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his first Masters 1000 semi-final, 2-6 6-3 6-4. #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/Rvyy6ZtaLI
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 1, 2021
“I think that's my like so far one of the best results. Obviously like winning titles, it's nice because you win the tournament. But like the results winning couple of really like close matches in a row, that's really big for me,” said Hurkacz, who earlier in 2021 won the ATP title in Delray Beach.
“Even though the match wasn't going my way, I was trying to be as competitive as I can. I believed in myself that if I will start making those shots, I'm going forward, I can stay competitive in the set and fight to come back.
“So I think that … the positivity was crucial for it.”
Rublev served for the opening set against Korda at 5-3 yet was broken to love. He then moved ahead 5-2 in the second set, and served for the match at 5-4, yet was broken to love.
Korda, physically struggling, played high-risk tennis in a bid to keep points short, and moved ahead 5-3 in the subsequent tiebreak.
But Rublev managed to land some powerful first serves to stay in contention, and sealed victory on his third match point.
"He's really talented. He have big shots and he feel confident and he go for them. Most of them he's making it. So in the end, that's why he's great," Rublev said of the 20-year-old American.
"I have chances to try to go deep in the tournament. In the end, I already went deep here. I did semifinal, one more semifinal, which is my first one in Masters.
"So it's already great result for me. And then we will see if I can do better or not."
Barty back in final
Like Hurkacz, Barty has enjoyed a similarly impressive run in Miami, beating Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka before overcoming world No.8 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarters.
All of those victories came after she saved a match point in her opening-round clash against Kristina Kucova.
Barty entered her match-up with Svitolina trailing the head-to-head series 1-5, but had won their most recent meeting in the final of the 2019 WTA Finals in Shenzhen.
And she repeated the feat with another straight-sets win on Thursday, blasting 28 winners to Svitolina’s 11 in a rock-solid performance.
“Over time I think I’ve built more trust in myself that I can try and come out here and play my game, and that’s good enough to compete with her,” said Barty, when asked how she had managed to turn her fortunes around against Svitolina.
“I thought I played a really good match today. I felt like I wanted to come out here and be aggressive, and I was able to execute – it’s a bit of a fine line sometimes, but certainly happy with how today went.
“It’s obviously a tournament I have so many good memories playing here and to now be in the last match of the tournament, I’m very grateful that I get another opportunity to come and play for a title.
“Hopefully we can do alright in a couple of days’ time.”
Andreescu, meanwhile, held leads of 4-1 in the first set and 3-1 in the second before Sakkari reeled her in on both occasions.
One-way ticket to the final ?️@Bandreescu_ survives Sakkari in yet another three-set thriller, 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(4).#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/VP8Mo90C1e
— wta (@WTA) April 2, 2021
The Greek star, who beat Naomi Osaka in the previous round, then led 4-2 in the final set before it was Andreescu's turn to stage a comeback.
With her power increasing and body language improving, the Canadian carried momentum into the final set tiebreak, where Sakkari's level dropped slightly.
Having won four consecutive three-set matches to get to this point in Miami, it marks Andreescu's first tournament final since she upstaged Serena Williams to win the US Open title 18 months ago.