Kvitova upends Rybakina for women’s Miami Open title

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. >> Twelfth-seeded Petra Kvitova won the Miami Open in her 13th appearance, beating seventh-seeded Elena Rybakina with a marathon tiebreaker in a 7-6 (14), 6-2 victory Saturday.

The 33-year-old Kvitova, 10 years older than her opponent, snapped Rybakina’s 13-match winning streak and halted her bid to win the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells and Miami Open).

In winning with will, stalwart defense and one sensational forehand winner on the dead run that electrified the crowd in the second set, the lefty Kvitova captured her 30th WTA singles title.

After Rybakina hit a forehand long on match point, Kvitova raised her arms and put her hands to her head. She was broken just once in the match. It was her 41st career WTA Finals appearance but first final in Miami.

Kvitova, who is from the Czech Republic, disagreed with the announcement Wimbledon would accept Russian players this year. Rybakina, the reigning Wimbledon champion, is from Moscow but represents Kazakhstan.

A past Wimbledon champion, the 6-foot Kvitova won the first-set epic tiebreaker 16-14 on her fifth set point. A suddenly shaky Rybakina hit a forehand long to end the 22-minute tiebreaker; she had been undefeated at 7-0 in tiebreakers in 2023.

The set lasted 66 minutes during which each player held serve until 4-4 then exchanged service breaks. Rybakina finished with 10 aces for the first set while setting the record for most aces in a WTA Tournament, smashing Madison Keys’ mark. Rybakina, who had 12 aces total for the match, finished the tournament with 69 for the tournament.

Chandler Smith earns first NASCAR Xfinity Series win

RICHMOND, Va. >> Chandler Smith outran John Hunter Nemechek out of a restart with six laps to go Saturday at Richmond Raceway to win for the first time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Nemechek chose the inside lane on a restart with 12 laps left, relegating Smith to the outside. When another caution came for a crash at the back of the field, Smith had taken the lead and chose the outside for the sprint to the finish.

Smith won in just his 10th career start in the series. Nemechek was second, followed by Josh Berry, Kaz Grala and Cole Custer.

“It feels great,” Smith said. “Here we are at Richmond, my favorite race track, and we’re sitting in victory lane. This is unbelievable.”

Nemechek raced side-by-side with Smith for the first few laps after the final green flag, but figured he was the underdog by the finish.

“We were a long-run speed car,” he said. “(Smith) had the best car on the short run. It was going to be hard to hold him off.”

Justin Allgaier, one of four drivers contending for the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus, gambled by stopping under green for his last set of tires with about 40 laps to and was cruising through the field.

But when another caution came with 28 to go, the rest of the leaders pitted, leaving him on older tires and basically defenseless. The other bonus contenders — Sammy Smith, Daniel Hemric and Sam Mayer — had more difficult days and Allgaier won despite finishing 13th.

“It’s weird to be finishing 13th and still standing here holding this check,” Allgaier said. “It was like none of us wanted to win it.”

Mayer finished 17th, Sammy Smith 19th and Hemric 24th.

— The Associated Press