Miami Open: Niculescu/Gasparian reach doubles semi-finals. Halep eliminated by Bacsinszky

Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu – Margarita Gasparian qualified on Tuesday to the Miami Open doubles semi-finals after defeating Vania King (US)/Ala Kudriavtzeva (Russia) 6-3, 7-6 (3). Niculescu/Gasparian are the surprise of the former stage, when they defeated favourites Martina Hingis (Switzerland)/Sania Mirza (India). The two are playing the third tournament together. They have secured a cheque for USD 82,410 and 390 WTA points.

Niculescu/Gasparian will face Timea Babos (Hungary)/Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) in the semi-final.

No.19 seed Timea Bacsinszky roared into the final four of the Miami Open for the first time in her career with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over No.5 seed Simona Halep.

Bacsinszky had to battle from behind after dropping the opening set and was undaunted by a gloomy forecast – one that even briefly halted proceedings right when the 2015 French Open semifinalist began to find her rhythm, wtatennis.com reports.

“I came back from a long road,” she told Andrew Krasny during her on-court interview. “The first set was really tough. She’s an awesome player and a great fighter.

“For the last year, she has also been an inspiration for me because I believe in hard work and she’s one of the players who work really hard, so to be able to play that well against her and to catch the win is really amazing. “I’m really happy with the win.”