The Miami Open quarterfinals were barnburners, with three of the four matches going to three tense, tight sets. Vote for your favorite point from them below.
Few players' minds work like Yulia Putintseva's. When faced with a deep, high return, the conventional play would be to reset the point with a deep rally ball of your own, or possibly to take it on with full power. But the Kazakhstani reached up and flicked a short, heavily sliced smash, reminiscent of Martina Hingis or Hsieh Su-Wei. It landed midcourt and veered off to the side, taking Victoria Azarenka -- and everyone in the stadium -- by total surprise. "Genius!" as the commentator proclaimed.
Maria Sakkari showed off her grit with her back to the wall against Elena Rybakina. When Rybakina changed direction to send a backhand bullet flying down the line, it seemed as though she'd converted her third match point. But Sakkari managed to reach it, then hare back across the court to thread a backhand pass through the smallest of gaps into the far corner.
The art of the slice, by Yulia Putintseva. Despite being on the back foot for most of this point's 16 shots, Putintseva was able to soak up all of Victoria Azarenka's pace and send it back with vicious spin and awkward angles. But the final shot revealed that she'd been carefully constructing the point all along, using her defensive slices to disguise the sudden switch to a perfectly placed drop shot winner.
Victoria Azarenka had her share of highlights in the nearly three-hour battle, too. The start of the second set found Yulia Putintseva once again weaving her web, this time using power to set herself up for the drop shot. It was a decent one when it came, as was the follow-up lob, high over Azarenka's backhand wing. But the former World No.1 was not only able to reach it, but -- with her back to the court -- to flick the most delicately angled high volley to land it out of Putintseva's reach.
Every inch of the court was used by Ekaterina Alexandrova and Jessica Pegula in this crucial point deep into the third set of their match. The rally was a smorgasbord of stellar shots as both players kept pulling off absurd gets -- Alexandrova's crosscourt forehand while moving backwards, Pegula withstanding full-power drive volleys. Ultimately, it was Alexandrova's aggression that sealed the point and paved the way to the key break of the set.
