On Thursday afternoon, after a straight set win over Timea Bacsinszky, former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova returned to the Miami Open final.
According to WTA Tennis, the tournament has been taxing for Svetlana Kuznetsova. In her way to the semifinals, she had been taken to three sets in every round. However, Kuznetsova has been able to change the trend against Timea Bacsinszky, in a comparatively brisk one hour and 56 minutes completing a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Kuznetsova declared afterwards that she is happy to hang in there and never let her hands down. The tennis former champion added that she has not been feeling her best but she has been fighting every ball and trying to run as much as she could.
Kuznetsova enjoyed the fight and is happy that she is still able to play against the best in the world. She could finish in just two sets so she "would have a little more time to rest."
Ten years ago, a younger Kuznetsova won over Maria Sharapova to take the Miami title. Now, she played with authority against Bacsinszky, rolling back the years.
It was the Russian that finished with a flourish in an evenly contested opening set. Before guiding on overhead into the open space to close out the set, Kuznetsova was dragging her opponent to all corners of the court.
Bacsinszky was going for the lines too often. In the second set, a couple of wayward backhands enabled Kuznetsova to break for a 4-2 lead.
Bacsinszky had many break opportunities but a role as important in her downfall was an inability to capitalize on these opportunities. Including four in the final game, in the end Bacsinszky spurned 12 break points.
According to RT, in the final of the Miami Open tennis on Saturday, Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova will face off against an in-form Victoria Azarenka. If Kuznetsova will manage a victory there, for the first time in nearly six years she would come back into the Top 10.
