Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (1st) won the Miami WTA 1000 title after defeating American Jessica Pegula (4th) in the final, consolidating her position at the top of the rankings.
Sabalenka, who prevailed in the decisive match against the local tennis player 7-5, 6-2, earned her nineteenth professional title.
The Belarusian, who won the WTA Brisbane this year, took the first set 7-5, in a set in which she lost her serve three times but broke her opponent’s serve four times.
The second set began in the same vein, with both players breaking each other’s serve, but Sabalenka found consistency with her serve to prevail 6-2 and secure the victory after nearly an hour and a half of play.
Sabalenka, who didn’t play her best despite the fact that it was enough to lift the trophy, won her first title in Miami without dropping a set. On her way to the final, she was joined by women’s No. 1 Viktoriya Tomova, Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Danielle Collins (14th), Zheng Qinwen (9th), and Jasmine Paolini (6th).
This victory allowed Sabalenka to further increase her lead over world No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland, whom she already has more than 3,000 points ahead of in the WTA rankings.
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic (4th) will face Czech Jakub Mensik in the men’s final of the Miami Masters 1000 this Sunday at 4 p.m. Djokovic, who holds almost every record in tennis, is looking to win his 100th title and end his drought of more than a year without lifting a Masters 1000 trophy.
On his way to the final, the Serbian defeated Rinky Hijikata, Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Lorenzo Musetti (15th), Sebastian Korda (24th), and Grigor Dimitrov (14th) without dropping a set and demonstrating excellent form.
However, he won’t have an easy time against the young Mensik, who defeated top-level opponents such as his compatriot Jack Draper (6th), Tomas Machac (20th), Arthur Fils (17th), and local talent Taylor Fritz (3rd) to reach his second ATP final.
