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MIAMI, FL, USA – For so long her Achilles heel, Victoria Azarenka’s serve has become a real weapon of late.

It is an improvement that, allied with her exceptional returning, has helped the Belarusian re-establish herself as a contender at the game’s flagship events; in Indian Wells, she outplayed Serena Williams to collect her biggest title since being crowned Australian Open champion, and earlier this week in Miami she got the better of the next generation’s brightest star, Garbiñe Muguruza, over two enthralling sets.

Pivotal to her success against Muguruza was the serve. The statistics made pleasant reading for the Azarenka camp, nine aces and a solitary double fault helping her win 58 of 83 (69%) points on serve – WTA leader Serena Williams’ 2016 figure is 66.4%* – and restrict the Spaniard to two breaks.

“I think it was a high-quality match for both of us. It was a lot of good striking, a lot of winners, and both of us taking opportunities,” Azarenka said in her post-match press conference. “I think today I served really well, and I played to win in important moments. Momentum shifting, I think I was a little better today.”

The story was a similar one in the Indian Wells final, where her approach and execution withstood the sternest of examinations from one of the best returners in the history of the sport. Williams carved out 12 break points (three times as many as Azarenka) yet could convert only one.

“Well, I have to go for it. She’s not a type of player that if you going to play safe she’s going to give it to you or she’s going to miss,” the 26-year-old said afterwards. “You really have to go out there and take away, because there is nothing coming easy.

“My mentality was just to stay calm, do what I think is right, play aggressive, play my game, and figure it out from there. I just really try to stay in the moment. Whatever I can do, you know, whatever the score is, the next-best point what I can play.”

This unflappability bears stark contrast to previous seasons, when Azarenka’s serve often unraveled at the most inopportune of moments. Nowhere was this more apparent than during her encounter with Williams at last year’s Mutua Madrid Open. Leading 6-5, 40-0 in the final set, Azarenka fell to pieces, double faulting three times to precipitate a dramatic collapse that culminated in tie-break heartache.

Similar problems would haunt her for the rest of the campaign, which featured more false dawns than she would care to remember. Charged with finding a solution was coach Wim Fissette, who targeted cheap gains as crucial to improving his charge’s fortunes.

“I worked a lot on my serve to be able to create easier serving games and going for my shots, developing power speed, and now need to work a little bit more on accuracy,” Azarenka said after her Indian Wells victory over Samantha Stosur, a match in which she struck a healthy 10 aces.

In her Hawk-Eye tracked matches in 2015, Azarenka was averaging 96mph on her first serve and 84mph on the second. While her service speed has not risen noticeably in 2016 – she is averaging 100mph and 86mph on first and second serves, respectively – there has been a marked jump in the number of points won – 66% compared to 55% in 2015.

The knock-on effect has been a more confident player, better equipped to make that long-overdue charge up the rankings: “I think I’m a better player right now just the way I handle myself on the court. I improved a lot my serve and just stronger in the tougher moments. I feel happier on the court, so that’s very important, to be able to go out there and perform in a difficult fight.

“I think my game is developing with pretty big progress right now, and that’s what I’m most happy about, is being able to add a little bit more every time I play. That’s for me the main goal of this season, to keep improving.”

* Information accurate as of March 21, 2016 

MIAMI, FL, USA – How many minutes has Svetlana Kuznetsova spent on court? Who has hit the most aces? And just how impressive has Angelique Kerber’s returning been? These are just a few of the questions answered in a Miami Open semifinal edition of wtatennis.com’s By The Numbers.

20,000,000 – Should Svetlana Kuznetsova reach the final she will pass $20million in career prize money. 

575 – Kuznetsova has taken 575 minutes to win her four matches – 128 minutes more than her semifinal opponent, Timea Bacsinszky. Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber have spent 379 and 343 minutes, respectively, on court thus far.

75 – Azarenka’s improved serve has helped her fend off 12 of 16 (75%) break points this fortnight – the best among the four remaining players. In her quarterfinal with Johanna Konta, the Belarusian saved all five break points faced.

51.4 – The percentage of return points Kerber has won in her four matches at Crandon Park. She has also converted a staggering 77.8% of her break point opportunities.

42 – Azarenka has won 42 of her 54 meetings with left-handers on tour. Six of these have come against Kerber. However, her solitary defeat against the German came in arguably their most high-profile meeting, at this year’s Australian Open.

22 – Kuznetsova has struck more aces, 22, than any other player en route to the last four. Kerber, meanwhile, has hit just two.

20 – Victory over Konta took Azarenka’s 2016 match win tally to 20. Last season, the former No.1 did not reach this total until Wimbledon.

15 – Bacsinszky is bidding to become the first Swiss finalist in Miami since Martina Hingis finished runner-up 15 years ago.

5 – By virtue of her run to the semifinals Azarenka will return to the Top 5 (at No.5) for the first time since May, 2014, at the expense of Simona Halep. This will be the first time Halep has been ranked outside the Top 5 since March, 2014.

4 – Four different nationalities are represented in the semifinals at Crandon Park for the fifth year in succession.

2 – Azarenka has reached the last four in Miami twice, in 2009 and 2011, and on both occasions she went on to win the title.

1 – Before this fortnight, Kerber and Kuznetsova had registered a combined total of one main draw win since the Australian Open.

0 – The number of sets Azarenka has dropped en route to the semifinals. The last player to be crowned Miami champion without dropping a set was Agnieszka Radwanska in 2012.

David Kane, Point: If Victoria Azarenka becomes the third woman in WTA history to achieve the Indian Wells-Miami “Sunshine” Double, the two-time Australian Open champion will have shown her ability to succeed on two ends of the competitive spectrum. Her run to the BNP Paribas Open title saw Azarenka shine as the underdog, battling through a grueling three-setter with Karolina Pliskova in the semis to stun heavy favorite and World No.1 Serena Williams in the championship match.

By contrast, her fortnight in Miami has allowed her to play the alpha, likes of which we’ve rarely seen since her 26-match winning streak in 2012. Up against tricky opposition in Johanna Konta and Angelique Kerber – the woman who halted her initial early-season momentum en route to the Australian Open title – Azarenka has been largely unbothered, taking less than eight hours to win five matches in straight sets.

“I really didn’t wait for her to give me anything,” she said after beating Kerber. “I really went out there and took my opportunities, which was missing in Australia, where I wasn’t aggressive enough. I know we got broken both a lot of times, but my serve was really strong when it needed. That also made a difference.”

Svetlana Kuznetsova stands between Azarenka and the Sunshine Double; a deadlocked head-to-head dating back to 2007 belies the Belarusian’s recent dominance in their rivalry, winning four of their last five encounters. Their two Miami matches went the distance, with Azarenka’s 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 semifinal victory serving as the springboard to her career breakthrough and the first of her two Miami titles in 2009.

“She’s a very talented and diverse player. I know she has had her up and downs in her career, but she knows how to handle big stages. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion, so it speaks a lot.

“Seeing her coming back into her form, I know she’s always been a dangerous player, so for me it’s going to be really fun challenge to see also where we both are in a different timing of our career since we last played.”

Indeed, their last match was at the 2013 Australian Open, when Azarenka was on top of the world and on her way to defending her maiden major title. Both have had their share of ups and downs, but the Belarusian can handle a big stage as well – if not better – than the 2006 champion.

“It’s going to be really fun. It’s tough, but the final can be unpredictable and is the type of the match where you give it all.”

Courtney Nguyen, Counterpoint: Svetlana Kuznetsova has an uncanny knack for spoiling a coronation. To win her first major she stunned Elena Dementieva as a 19-year-old to win the 2004 US Open. Five years later she upended No.1 Dinara Safina in the 2009 French Open final to win her second major. This year at the Miami Open she ended eight-time champion Serena Williams’ 20-match win-streak at Crandon Park and on Saturday she has a chance to win her biggest title since 2009, re-enter the Top 10 for the first time in nearly six years, and stop Azarenka from completing the Sunshine Double.

If the 30-year-old Russian can pull it off we might as well christen her the Sunshine Stopper. When she won the Miami Open a decade ago in 2006, she did so by defeating Maria Sharapova in the final, preventing her compatriot from winning both Indian Wells and Miami that year.

Of course, 2006 was a long time ago in, what feels like, a galaxy far, far away. In the 10 years that have ticked by we’ve seen the incredibly talented but impossibly inconsistent Kuznetsova show up when we least expect it and go on a walkabout when we’ve penciled her through. This year she won her second tournament of the year at the Apia International Sydney at the height of the Australian summer. She then failed to win back-to-back matches until Miami. This is the whiplash-inducing career of Svetlana Kuznetsova in a nutshell.

Yet when she gets herself into the business end of tournaments, Kuznetsova has been more reliable than not. She has won her last two finals. Another fun stat cutting Kuznetsova’s way? The two biggest tournaments of the season so far have been won by the women who knocked Serena out of the tournament, as Kuznetsova did here.

But setting aside statistics and symmetry, Kuznetsova goes into Saturday’s final as the underdog and that’s a good thing. The pressure is firmly on Azarenka’s shoulders. Given her incredible start to the season and the quality players she’s beaten to build her 21-1 record, she’s expected to win on Saturday. That should allow Kuznetsova to play without pressure or expectations. And that’s the emotional climate she needs to play her best tennis.

“I didn’t feel going in that good shape going to the US swing,” the Russian said after her semifinal. “I was not feeling confident at all. After I had a loss in Indian Wells I tried to work a lot and training every morning a lot just to get confidence back, get my fitness.

“I’m doing better. I appreciate, and I am blessed I have my body to play so many years and to win against good players, top players. It’s great when things come together. Either way, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s a great week. I’m really pleased and happy the way I fight through all these tournaments and weeks and players.”

Listen to more thoughts from Kane and Nguyen on the Miami Open final in the latest WTA Insider Podcast:

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Azarenka’s Near-Perfect Start: Former No.1 Victoria Azarenka continued her march back towards the top of the women’s game with a 20th career title at the Miami Open, becoming the third woman in WTA history to capture the Indian Wells-Miami “Sunshine” Double – joining Steffi Graf (1994, 1996) and Kim Clijsters (2005). With 22 of her 23 matches won thus far, Azarenka is in the midst of her best start to a season since her 23-match winning streak back in 2012. The Belarusian has won a tour-leading three titles and her only loss came in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open to eventual champion Angelique Kerber. Azarenka swiftly avenged the loss and didn’t drop a set en route to her third Miami title.

Just over a year ago, injuries and inconsistencies saw the two-time Australian Open champion fall as far as No.50, but her Sunshine Sweep not only takes her back into the Top 5 for the first time since 2014, but also helps her regain the top spot on the Road to Singapore leaderboard.

Kerber Rebounds For Strong Second: Though Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber struggled to regain the form that helped her defeat Azarenka and World No.1 Serena Williams to win her maiden Grand Slam title through the Middle East and Indian Wells – losing in her opening match in both the Qatar Total Open and the BNP Paribas Open to Zheng Saisai and Denisa Allertova, respectively – a solid fortnight in Miami brought her back to No.2 in the world and the Road to Singapore leaderboard. The German was down a set to Kiki Bertens in the third round and a break in the final set of her fourth round against Timea Babos, but was full of confidence in her quarterfinal against rival Madison Keys and came closest to pushing Azarenka to three sets in their semifinal.

Kerber next heads into what was her strongest part of last season, having won back-to-back titles in Charleston and Stuttgart. Top seed at the Volvo Car Open, she will have the opportunity to close what is only a 169 point gap between herself and Azarenka on the RTS leaderboard.

Serena Stays In Contention: World No.1 Serena Williams remains in search of a record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title and trails Azarenka and Kerber on the Road To Singapore leaderboard. Finishing runner-up at the Australian Open, the American appeared on course for her first BNP Paribas Open title since 2001, but the emotions of the moment undoubtedly played a factor in her straight-sets loss to the Belarusian in Indian Wells. Playing Indian Wells and Miami for only the second time in 15 years, Williams ran into an inspired Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round of the Miami Open, a tournament she has won an astounding eight times in her glittering career. The defending French Open champion will look to make up for lost ground in the clay court season, having reached the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open before triumphing on the terre battue in 2015.

Radwanska’s Semifinal Streak: Agnieszka Radwanska may have lost before the semifinals for the first time in 2016 at the Miami Open, but one cannot ignore the Pole’s stunning stretch of results; in fact, no player has won more matches since last year’s US Open than the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion, who reached the final four in Australia and Indian Wells. Radwanska reached the semifinals or better at four of her five events so far this year, lifting the tropy on her season debut at the Shenzhen Open. Her run in Miami came to a premature end at the hands of 2015 French Open semifinalis Timea Bacsinszky, causing her to drop back down to No.3 on the WTA rankings – after briefly reclaiming No.2 following Indian Wells – and settle for No.4 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard. Radwanska may prefer to be heading to grass courts to better capitalize on her good form, but clay court success is far from impossible for the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up, who made the semifinals in Madrid and quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia back in 2014. 

Ones To Watch: An ankle injury interrupted Carla Suárez Navarro’s Sunshine Swing, but the Spaniard nonetheless had a first quarter to remember in 2016, reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and her first career Premier 5 title at the Qatar Total Open. Aiming to reach the Top 5, Suárez Navarro got within one spot of her season goal – and a career-high ranking – following her win in Doha, peaking at No.6 on the WTA rankings and currently rounds out the Top 5 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard. One of the many hoping to qualify for Singapore last fall, she narrowly missed out on a qualification berth when she lost in the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup to Daria Kasatkina. 

RTS No.6 Svetlana Kuznetsova has stealthily enjoyed a career renaissance since capturing the title in Moscow last fall, winning the Apia International Sydney and following up her Miami upset over Williams with a run to the final, losing to Azarenka in straight sets. The two-time Grand Slam champion was very close to returning to the Top 10 for the first time since 2010, but still managed to vault into the Top 8 on the RTS leaderboard. Kuznetsova hasn’t qualified for the WTA Finals since 2009, and never progressed past the round robin stage in five appearances.

British No.1 Johanna Konta refuses to rest on her laurals, backing up her run to the semifinals of the Australian Open by posting solid results through the WTA’s very own March Madness. The first set of her quarterfinal against Azarenka was one of the best of the tournament, one that truly tested the mettle of both women, who had only competed one other time last fall.

Ranked No.8 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard is Italian veteran Roberta Vinci, who captured the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and became the oldest woman to debut in the Top 10 in WTA history. The 2015 US Open finalist was forced to pull out of the BNP Paribas Open with a right foot injury in the fourth round and won only one match in Miami before losing to Keys in straight sets.

On the bubble are Belinda Bencic and Barbora Strycova, ranked No.9 and No.10 respectively on the RTS leaderboard. Bencic made her own Top 10 debut after reaching the finals in St. Petersburg and boasted her best Australian Open finish with a run to the round of 16. Strycova has played some dangerous ball in 2016, herself, finishing runner-up at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and upset Garbiñe Muguruza in Melbourne. 

Timea Bacsinszky is Bencic’s compatriot and the former World No.9 rocketed up the Road to Singapore leaderboard (no.64 to No.14) after she made the semifinals of the Miami Open with her first career Top 3 win over Agnieszka Radwanska, which she followed up by beating former No.2 Simona Halep in the quarterfinals. 

Looking Ahead: The clay court season begins in earnest at the Volvo Car Open, which will be headlined by Kerber and Bencic; how many points are up for grabs leading up to the second Grand Slam of the year?

• In 2015, Kerber was the only player to win two clay court titles at the Premier level or higher.

• Serena Williams owns 12 clay-court titles, the most among active players