Pegula Moves Into her 3rd Miami Open Semifinal in 4 Years with Win Over Raducanu

Jessica Pegula stopped the string of upsets at the Miami Open by ending the stalwart run of Britain’s unseeded Emma Raducanu on Wednesday night.
The fourth-seeded Pegula won 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 in a two hour, 25 minute battle, to move into her third Miami Open women's semifinal in four years. Pegula, the last American in the field, faces the teenage wild card from the Philippines, Alexandra Eala, on Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
Pegula's match ended at 11:23 p.m. and forced the postponement of the men's quarterfinal between Novak Djokovic and Sebastian Korda until Thursday.
Raducanu, who won the 2021 US Open, came in ranked 60th world after experiencing multiple coaching changes and injuries.
Pegula won the first set. But Raducanu flashed her power in taking the second set, though not before she appeared to struggle physically with Miami’s high humidity that reached 70%.
Grimacing through points and showing signs of overheating, Raducanu posted five set points on Pegula’s serve but couldn’t convert. Pegula then held to close to 5-4.
At that juncture, medical personnel took Raducanu’s blood pressure and pulse rate as the chair umpire declared a medical timeout. The medical officials rubbed ice bags on Raducanu’s legs and put cold towels around her neck.
Raducanu sprang to life and dominated the tiebreaker 7-3.
In the third set, Pegula rallied, going up an early break at 2-0. On her third break point, Pegula put away Raducanu's short ball and ended the match by breaking Raducanu at love.
In a nearly three-hour, men’s quarterfinal, a cramping, 14th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov barely survived the oppressive humidity to outlast No. 23 seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Dimitrov was led off the court by a tournament doctor and ATP physio after sitting in his chair for over 25 minutes, saying he was feeling “dizzy."
Dimitrov, a Miami Open finalist in 2024, saved a match point in the third set when trailing 5-6 before forcing a tiebreaker. He squandered seven set points in the opening set and lost the tiebreaker 6-4.
He will face the Djokovic-Korda winner in the quarterfinals.
The high seeds were falling earlier on Wednesday.
Soon after unseeded wild card Eala stunned No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek in a straight-set women's quarterfinal, men’s top seed Alexander Zverev got bounced by No. 17 seed Arthur Fils of France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a fourth-round men’s match postponed by rain.
Fils, who beat American Frances Tiafoe in his previous match in a marathon three setter, will face Jakub Mensik in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
In the third set, Fils broke Zverev at 3-3 and kept the German moving. On match point, Fils pounded a ball down the left sideline that the top seed couldn’t retrieve.
Fils, 20, received treatment on his back after the first set but rallied to win the next two, winning in two hours.
“I was feeling not great in the rallies," he said. "I’ve had a little problem in my back since I was young, so sometimes it hurts me a little bit. I had to find a rhythm, more aggressive and come into the court to play my game and not let him play. Because when you let him play, he is one of the best tennis players in the world. I’m really happy about the way I did it.”
Eala, ranked 140th, is on the verge of becoming the first star player to ever come out of the Philippines after topping Swiatek 6-2, 7-5.
Eala became the third wild card to reach the Miami Open semifinals, following Justine Henin in 2010 and Victoria Azarenka in 2018.
She never rattled as the first four games went to at least one deuce and five of the first six games were service breaks. Swiatek held serve just twice in the match and committed 32 unforced errors in the one hour, 39-minute battle.
Eala has beaten three major winners during her remarkable run — Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam winner from Poland.
“There is a lot of emotions, definitely,’’ said Eala, who had never beaten a top 40 player. “Happiness has to be on the top of the whole list.’’

Max Verstappen confirmed Thursday he was unhappy with Red Bull's ruthless driver swap for the Japanese Grand Prix, saying his endorsement of a social media post criticizing the move "speaks for itself".

The four-time world champion has a new teammate at Suzuka after Yuki Tsunoda replaced the underperforming Liam Lawson two weeks into the Formula One season.

Red Bull have been criticized for not giving Lawson enough time, with former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde saying on social media that the move was "bullying, or a panic move".

Verstappen put a "like" on Van der Garde's post and told reporters that it was "not a mistake".

"I liked the comment, the text, so I guess it speaks for itself, right?" Verstappen said at the Suzuka Circuit,

"Everything has been shared with the team, how I think about everything.

"Sometimes it's not necessary to always share and say everything in public. I think it's better."

Lawson had been promoted from Red Bull's sister team RB at the end of last season and now returns, with Tsunoda going the other way, AFP said.

Lawson's two races for Red Bull, in Melbourne and Shanghai, were at tracks on which he had never raced before.

"I think for rookies, always at the beginning of the season, you have the calendar nowadays, and F1 is very tough," said Verstappen.

"Because most of the tracks, they haven't really driven on, or they maybe have a sprint weekend.

"So all these scenarios, they don't help."

Verstappen is second in the drivers' championship, eight points behind Lando Norris of McLaren, after finishing second in Australia and fourth in China.

McLaren won both GPs and clearly have a performance edge over a Red Bull regarded as tricky to drive, but Verstappen has won the Japanese Grand Prix for the last three years.

"I think our main issue is that our car is not where we want it to be," Verstappen said.

"I think everyone knows that within the team as well, and that's what I focus on, to be honest."

Pegula Moves Into her 3rd Miami Open Semifinal in 4 Years with Win Over Raducanu