12th seed Caroline Wozniacki meets second seed Karolina Pliskova in the semifinals of the Miami Open. The winner faces Venus Williams or Johanna Konta in Saturday's championship match.
Pliskova's path to the semi-finals
The Czech has looked dominant in Miami, not dropping a set en route to the last four. After receiving a first round bye, she defeated qualifier Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3 in the second round, 27th seed Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-3 in the third round, 15th seed Barbora Strycova 6-1, 6-4 in the fourth round and 26th seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Wozniacki's path to the semi-finals
Like Pliskova, Wozniacki has not lost a set in reaching the final four. Also receiving a first-round bye, she knocked off qualifier Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-2 in the second round, Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-2 in the third round, won the first set 7-6 (1) over sixth seed Garbine Muguruza before the Spaniard was forced to retire with an injury and Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Head-to-head
This is the fifth career meeting between the two players with Wozniacki having won three of the previous four, but Pliskova dominated their last encounter, thumping the Dane in the final of Doha 6-3, 6-4, a match where it was not as close as the score would indicate.
Who will win the championship?
Both players have looked good in reaching this stage of the tournament, but Wozniacki has benefitted from facing lesser competition as she has only played one seed and that was Muguruza, who retire with an injury while Pliskova has already beaten three Top 30 players.
The court surface and speed suits the Czech's powerful game as she has the ability to blow the Dane off the court with her serve and groundstrokes while Wozniacki has to hope Pliskova has an off day with her game.
They've met once before in this tournament, but that was back in 2013 and is really not much of a factor now. It's these types of players that Wozniacki struggles with as she has no other options on court but to retrieve and play defense. Against Pliskova, that won't be nearly good enough. Expect a competitive match, but Pliskova looks to be the clear choice to reach her first final in Miami.
Prediction: Pliskova in straight sets