Victoria Azarenka, the most improved player of 2009, has booked herself a berth in the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open final.
Azarenka, who has already won two titles this season, defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
It was Azarenka’s first victory over the Russian, who had beaten her in their previous three meetings.
“It’s really big,” Azarenka said about reaching the final. “It’s the biggest moment, I would say, in my career.”
Azarenka will await the winner of tonight’s second semifinal between Venus and Serena Williams in Saturday’s championship match.
Although I also like Kuznetsova, she has not come through for a long time when she needed to. Azarenka didn’t get the win on her initial serve for the match, but hung in there and steadied herself and won the next time she had a chance to serve it out. It is difficult for a great player to win the double of IW and Miami but here was a 19 year old who got to the semis of IW and now to final of Miami-two big tournaments back to back.