Rybakina rallies past Pegula again – and again – to reach Miami semi-finals
Elena Rybakina edged out Jessica Pegula 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday evening and will play the winner of the match between Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed, and American Hailey Baptiste in the next round
Elena Rybakina, Miami 2026 | © Larry Marano/Shutterstock/SIPA
Kazakh seed No. 3 Elena Rybakina defeated American seed No. 5 Jessica Pegula 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open on Wednesday to reach her third semi-final at the tournament, extending her winning streak over the American to five matches and landing her 37th career win over a top-ten opponent.
It was not her best tennis, and she won the match anyway. Rybakina dropped the opening set comprehensively, was broken twice and sprayed 12 unforced errors as Pegula, who barely missed a ball in the first set, conceding just six points on serve, looked on course for a straightforward victory. The turnaround came in the fifth game of the second set, when Pegula held three break points at 6-2, 2-2 and failed to convert any of them.
Rybakina held, won seven of the next eight games to level the match, broke immediately in the third set and never looked back.
The Australian Open champion fired 12 aces across the match and, crucially, served her way out of danger in every moment that mattered. Pegula actually won more total points – 100 to 98 – but the Kazakh won the ones that counted. “It’s always very difficult matches with Jessica,” Rybakina said after the match. “She started playing well and I was a bit rushing and frustrated, but I’m happy that I managed to bounce back.”
Rybakina in a very short list
The rivalry has tilted sharply. Rybakina lost three of her first four meetings against Pegula in 2022 and 2023, but has won their last five consecutively, at the WTA Finals, the Australian Open semi-finals, the Indian Wells quarter-finals and now twice in Miami. She leads the head-to-head 6-3.
In reaching the semi-finals here for the third time, Rybakina joined a historically short list. She became only the third woman to reach both the Indian Wells and Miami semi-finals in multiple seasons since 2009, alongside Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka. Her record in Miami semi-finals stands at 2-0, having beaten Pegula at this stage in 2023 and Victoria Azarenka in 2024, though both times she fell in the final.
Rybakina has now won 32 of her last 36 matches. She will face the winner of the match between Belarusian top seed Aryna Sabalenka, the defending champion, and American Hailey Baptiste, ranked No. 45. Sabalenka has not lost to an unseeded opponent since falling to Czech Marketa Vondrousova in Berlin last June. Baptiste, who reached the semi-finals in Abu Dhabi earlier in the season, has won four consecutive matches, the longest streak of her WTA career.
Pegula reached the quarter-finals after beating Romanian seed No. 34 Jaqueline Cristian 6-4, 6-1, Canadian seed No. 26 Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-2 and British Francesca Jones 6-1, 3-0 retired. Rybakina had dropped no sets in reaching this stage, winning against Australian Talia Gibson, Ukrainian seed No. 27 Marta Kostyuk and Kazakhstani Yulia Putintseva.
