Unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea pulled off the upset of the tournament Wednesday with a 6-4 6-4 victory over reigning Australian Open champion and world number two Aryna Sabalenka, propelling her to the Miami Open semifinals.
Cirstea, who has yet to drop a set in Miami and is the last unseeded player in the draw, delivered a stunning performance while taking advantage of some untimely double faults to become only the third person to beat Sabalenka this year.
With the win, the 32-year-old Cirstea reached her second WTA 1000 semifinal nearly 10 years after getting her first.
"I am a bit speechless," said world number 74 Cirstea. "I came out knowing it would be a really tough match."
"Aryna hits so hard, so I knew I had to hold my ground, and I am very happy with my performance today and it's a bit unexpected, to be honest."
When serving for the match, Cirstea fell behind 0-30 and then held steady while saving two break points before finally sealing the win when Sabalenka sent a forehand return long.
Cirstea broke to open the match, but Sabalenka dropped just three points across her next three service games before breaking the Romanian to draw level at 4-4.
But Cirstea, who arrived in Miami fresh off a run to the Indian Wells quarterfinal, held firm against Sabalenka's power and broke right back before emphatically sealing the first set with an ace.
The Romanian broke to start the second set when Sabalenka double-faulted at 30-40 and then held to love for a 2-0 lead, but the Belarusian briefly turned up the heat and looked to have found her way before letting it slip.
Sabalenka, a runner-up at Indian Wells, squandered a breakpoint chance while leading 3-2 and then double-faulted while facing a breakpoint in the next game as Cirstea went ahead 4-3 and never looked back.
Cirstea will face either Czech 15th-seeded Petra Kvitova or 18th-seeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semis.
On the men's side, a two-hour mid-match rain delay could not cool off sizzling Jannik Sinner, who crushed unseeded Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 6-3 6-1 in their one-sided quarterfinal.
The 10th-seeded Italian ripped a backhand return winner to capture the first set and rolled from there to improve to a career 5-0 against Ruusuvuori.
"We both played well today, but I won the important points," said Sinner.
"It's never easy when you are up and get interrupted, but I came back and played well."
Rain washed out Wednesday's remaining matches, including a first meeting between world number one and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and American Taylor Fritz. Weather permitting, that match will be held during the evening session on Thursday.
