MIAMI -- On Tuesday night, two welcome blasts from the past graced the Miami Open -- Serena Williams and Juan Martin del Potro. Twenty-four-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic, like a giddy schoolboy, couldn’t take enough pictures.

On Wednesday afternoon, the bar rose even higher, for Uncle Toni Nadal appeared in the Hard Rock Stadium box of wild card Alexandra Eala. Yes, the man who coached his nephew Rafael to a brain-bending 14 Roland Garros titles was on hand rooting for another left-hander from the Rafa Nadal Academy.

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The 19-year-old from the Philippines continued her rousing, out-of-nowhere run through the draw with a truly stunning 6-2, 7-5 victory over World No. 2 Iga Swiatek. She advances to Thursday’s semifinals and a date with No. 4 Jessica Pegula, whom she’s never played.

“Yeah, from the very beginning, I knew that I had the level to stick with her,” Eala said later. “She’s very decorated. She’s achieved a lot, and she’s someone that I have looked up to for a while.”

Eala has equaled the best result by a wild card since they started playing the Miami Open in 1985. The others were named Justine Henin (2010) and Victoria Azarenka (2018).

The other compelling semifinal pits World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka versus Jasmine Paolini. They won Tuesday in straight sets over Zheng Qinwen and Magda Linette, respectively.

How will these matchups play out? We make the case for each remaining player:

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No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 6 Jasmine Paolini (Thursday, 3 p.m. ET)

Case for Sabalenka: Serving at 3-4 in the second set of her quarterfinal match against Zheng, Sabalenka went down love-40. She had been struggling with her serve -- trying to adjust to the heavier balls that come with late-night atmospherics -- getting broken three straight times. But there wasn’t to be a fourth.

Sabalenka won five straight points to level it at 4-all, then won her serve at love and came back to break Zheng. She served it out at love -- finishing with 13 straight points on her serve.

“I’m happy with the way I handled my emotions and even though my serve didn’t work I was still in there fighting for every point,” Sabalenka said afterward. “I’m very proud of that.”

She beat Zheng for the sixth time in six tries. This, after going 7-for-7 against defending champion Danielle Collins in the fourth round. This is relevant because Sabalenka has won three of four matches against Paolini at the WTA Tour level. In the two most recent matches, 2024 WTA Finals and 2023 Beijing -- Paolini didn’t get a set.

How consistent has Sabalenka been? She’s only the fourth player to reach the semifinals at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami the same year as World No. 1, joining Steffi Graf (1994), Martina Hingis (1998, 2000 and 2001) and Serena Williams (2015). That’s some list.

Sabalenka has won 10 of her past 12 meetings against Top 10 opponents -- both coming at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, when she looked fatigued after a successful swing through China.

In Miami, working out of her home here, Sabalenka seems fresh. This is her first career semifinal at the Miami -- and you get the idea she’s determined to rinse away the bad taste of losing the Indian Wells final to Mirra Andreeva.

Case for Paolini: Now this is the Paolini everyone fell in love with last year.

Her defense can be breathtaking. Even at 29 years old, she’s still one of the quickest players from sideline to sideline. This is how she upended Naomi Osaka in a three-set, third-round match.

Osaka, who had never played her, said she was thrown off by the disparity of Paolini’s 5-foot-4 height -- and the speed of the ball coming back at her. It was more of the same in a 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal win over Magda Linette.

Paolini came into the tournament with a 8-5 record, solid but below last year’s standard.

“I think I didn’t play bad this season,” Paolini told reporters. “But I didn’t have a great result. I lost many matches, but to big opponents. Was tough, but at the same time I was repeating to myself that, `I’m there.’ Maybe I need just a little bit more of confidence. It come here maybe.”

For the first time since reaching the Wimbledon final last year, Paolini has won four consecutive WTA matches and is into her first semifinal of 2025.

They played their first match eight years ago in Ilkley, a small town in Northern England. It was an ITF event, on grass, the week before Wimbledon. Sabalenka was ranked No. 128 and Paolini two spots lower. Paolini won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw (beating Danielle Collins in the process) and took down Sabalenka in a third-set tiebreak. Paolini collected 13 ranking points and $1520. Sabalenka’s take was one point and $887.

Paolini, playing with spirit and fire, will be keen to turn back the clock.

No. 4 Jessica Pegula vs. Alexandra Eala (Thursday, 8:30 p.m. ET)

Case for Pegula: So far, Eala’s lack of elite-level experience hasn’t worked against her. But Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek all suffered damaging dips in their levels against the ascendant teenager.

While Pegula has yet to win a Grand Slam singles title -- she was a finalist at last year’s US Open -- she is incredibly consistent. In short, she doesn’t beat herself and usually defeats the players she’s supposed to.

Jessica Pegula

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Emma Raducanu came in on fire, winning four straight matches, her best streak since winning the 2021 US Open. Pegula cooled her off with that unerring consistency. The 19-shot rally in the first set? It went to Pegula -- as did the 23-shot back-and-forth in the second.

The 31-year-old Pegula outlasted her younger opponent on the way to a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 win. And that’s why it’s likely to happen again on Thursday.

“Just wanted to come out in the third really sharp, really quick – and kind of jump on her,” Pegula said in her on-court interview. “Didn’t want to keep that third set too close.”

Since 2009, Pegula is only the second American to reach the quarterfinals at the Miami Open in four consecutive years, after Serena Williams (2012-2015). She’s almost automatic on hard courts.

Despite the late hour of her win over Raducanu (it was past 11 p.m.), she’s got plenty of time to recover for Thursday night’s second match.

“It’s my third [Miami] semifinal,” Pegula said, “so I’m hoping third time’s a charm. I want to make it to that final so bad. I’ll give it another shot tomorrow night.”

Case for Eala: She made her intentions known almost immediately, crowding the baseline to receive Swiatek’s serves. On second serves, Eala was often a foot or two inside the baseline.

Eala broke Swiatek’s five straight times to start the match and finished a staggering 8-for-10. Coming into the match, Swiatek was No. 8 among WTA players in percentage of service points won, 62.2. Against Eala, she finished at 39 percent.

Her serves roll in around at a modest 90 mph and 75ish for the second, but … the flat forehand -- on average, it had about 1,000 rpm less than Swiatek’s -- took time away and the four-time Roland Garros champion at times looked rushed. 

Her earlier wins induced tears, but after beating Swiatek, a dry-eyed Eala stood frozen on the baseline, seemingly stunned by her accomplishment. 

“I couldn’t decide,” she told reporters later. “I think I was so in the moment, and I made it a point to be in the moment every point that it’s hard to realize what just happened. It’s hard to realize that you won the match. I really tried to soak it all in, because this has never happened to me before.”

She’s yet to drop a set, although she advanced to semifinals when Paula Badosa (back) granted her a walkover.

“To win Grand Slams has always been one of the end goals,” Eala said. “To become No. 1 has always been one of the end goals. I think that this result came in the right time. Being a successful junior doesn’t mean that you’re going to be a successful professional.

“So I made it a point to work hard every day and to trust that my time would come, and hopefully this is the time.”