Elena Rybakina rallies to score Jessica Pegula comeback and reach Miami Open semifinals

Elena Rybakina roared into her third WTA semifinal of the 2026 season, rallying from a set down to defeat Jessica Pegula, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the Miami Open on Wednesday.

The reigning Australian Open champion booked a possible rematch with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka—who plays her quarterfinal Wednesday evening vs. American Hailey Baptiste—but not before scoring a fourth straight win over the No. 5 seed in two hours and 15 minutes at the Hard Rock Stadium.

Seeded third in Miami, Rybakina is coming off a runner-up finish at the BNP Paribas Open, where she came within a point of defeating Sabalenka for a second time in a row. The narrow loss has done little to halt the momentum that started at the end of last season when she captured the WTA Finals title in Riyadh, reaching the Miami quarterfinals without dropping a set.

Across the net was a familiar foe in Pegula, who suffered a narrow straight-sets loss to Rybakina just last week at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Rybakina has proved a particular challenge for Pegula of late, losing two other high-stakes matches to the Kazakh in Riyadh and the Australian Open—both times in the semifinals.

Still, the American home favorite has come close each time and their Miami clash was no different when she kicked off the encounter with a 4-0 lead in the opening set. Rybakina got on the board but couldn’t break back as Pegula put herself a set away from the win.

The turning point came early in the second set when Pegula held three break points on Rybakina in the fifth game. Rybakina held on and won seven of the next eight games, leveling the match and taking a 2-0 lead in the decider.

Pegula held on for dear life in the fifth game of the third, navigating a tense serve game herself to fend off three break points, and took that momentum into another thriller on Rybakina’s serve. Rybakina held on in kind, saving a break point and impressing with a few forays to net.

Serving for the match, Rybakina withstood a brave last stand from Pegula but got to match point with a strong serve-forehand combination and secured the two-hour victory with one last service winner.

Rybakina will now await the winner of Sabalenka and Baptiste, who took a set from the world No. 2 last week in Indian Wells.