World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka dominated, as in the final in Indian Wells, her rival Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-3 to qualify for the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami (Florida, United States) on Thursday.
Sabalenka, defending champion, is in the running for the “Sunshine Double”, the American Indian Wells and Miami double, and will have to dominate the American Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday.
On Thursday, she once again dominated her runner-up in the world rankings, who had beaten her in the final of the Australian Open in January.
Their duel, the main rivalry in current women’s tennis, this time quickly turned in favor of the Belarusian, who managed to break on her two opportunities in the first set.
A long game on the opponent’s service finally won perfectly launched her second set (2-0) against the Kazakh.
The American Coco Gauff dominated the Czech Karolina Muchova 6-1, 6-1 at the start of the day to reach her first final in Florida.
This is the sixth time in as many duels that Gauff has beaten the 14th player in the world. She notably won in the WTA 1000 final in Cincinnati in 2023 and in Beijing in 2024, or in the round of 16 of the Australian Open in January.
Gauff (22 years old, 4th) is already assured of climbing to 3rd place in the world rankings next week by overtaking the Polish Iga Swiatek.
The champion of the last Roland-Garros lost her serve on Thursday in the first game of the match, before breaking immediately.
The first three games were very competitive, lasting 22 minutes in total. A sham start as the Czech, 29 years old, then collapsed, multiplying the approximations against Gauff, remaining solid without being flamboyant.
Gauff extinguished any possibility of a comeback by dismissing two break points while leading 4-1 in the second set.
