Rublev weathers Korda and rain delay to advance to Miami semifinal

On a night interrupted by several rain delays, Andrey Rublev was able to persevere and battle past Sebastian Korda to secure his spot in the semifinal of the Miami Open.

Despite the match beginning over an hour after it's scheduled time, both men showed no signs of nerves as each player held serve with the first set level at 3-3. However, it was Rublev who obtained the first break, but he was unable to serve out the first set with Korda breaking right back. The young American finally faltered at 5-6, as he was unable to send the set into a tiebreak, with his Russian opponent prevailing 7-5.

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Another rain shower delayed proceedings, with both men using the time to formulate a gameplan. The fourth seed obtained a break to go up 5-2, but again failed to serve out the set. Korda responded by playing some inspired tennis, this time breaking back and taking the set to a tiebreak.

Although Korda raced to a 4-2 lead, he was unable to overwhelm the World No.8, who rallied back and used his huge groundstrokes to level the score at 5-5. The pressure proved to be too much for the young American, who eventually fell to his more experienced opponent, as Rublev emerged with a 7-5 7-6(7) victory after one hour and 42 minutes.

Awaiting Rublev in the semifinals is Hubert Hurkacz, who upset second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to book his place in his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal.

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ATP Tour on Twitter: "Looking for that #MiamiOpen trophy 🏆 🇷🇺 @AndreyRublev97 reaches his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final with a 7-5, 7-6 win over Korda! https://t.co/xBz9FPRI3q" / Twitter