After Indian Wells, Aryna Sabalenka achieved the “Sunshine double” by winning the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami (Florida) on Saturday against the American Coco Gauff. She is the 5th player to achieve the American “Sunshine double” after Steffi Graf (1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and Iga Swiatek (2022), whose 11 WTA 1000 tournament titles she equals.
Title holder in Florida, the world No. 1 did it again to lift a third trophy this season thanks to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 success in 2h09. The 27-year-old Belarusian’s domination is almost total on the circuit at the start of the season. Sabalenka also won the WTA 500 in Brisbane in January. She has lost only one of her 24 matches this year, the final of the Australian Open, against Kazakh Elena Rybakina, whom she then dominated in the final in Indian Wells then in the semi-final in Miami.
“Stay positive”
Before the final in Miami, she had not lost a set against a player other than Rybakina in 2026. Coco Gauff pulled away to take a set from her, after fighting to save break points at 2-2 then 3-3. Sabalenka missed the last play of this round with several fouls and Gauff found a little length in return.
“I know Coco well, I knew she wasn’t going to give me this final easily. I knew she was going to fight, run around, bring every ball back to me. I missed a few opportunities in this second set but I wanted to stay positive for the third,” declared the champion on Tennis Channel.
Gauff too inconsistent
The rest of the time, the Belarusian displayed her superiority and mastery of her game, particularly on serve, while Gauff is one of the best players on the circuit in return. Conversely, the 22-year-old American was too inconsistent with her play (7 double faults, 67% first serves) to worry her opponent.
Sabalenka now leads 7-6 in her duels against Gauff, who had beaten her in the final of two Grand Slam tournaments, Roland-Garros last year and the US Open in 2023. Gauff was, however, able to play a first final in Miami, the tournament where she played and won her first match on the WTA circuit at just 15 years old in 2019.
She was also able to recover from a nerve problem in her left arm which forced her to retire in the third round at Indian Wells. The champion of the last Roland-Garros will climb to 3rd place in the world rankings on Monday, ahead of Iga Swiatek. The men’s final pits Italian Jannik Sinner against Czech Jiri Lehecka on Sunday.
