Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka beat hometown favourite Coco Gauff in the Miami Open final to join an exclusive club by completing the coveted ‘Sunshine Double’.
World No 1 Sabalenka, who reached the final without dropping a set, won 73 per cent of her first-serve points and faced just two break points en route to a 6-2 4-6 6-3 victory in a rematch of the 2025 French Open final won by Gauff.
Sabalenka is only the fifth woman to win the Indian Wells and Miami titles back to back, a feat known as the ‘Sunshine Double’ given the tournaments’ respective locations in California and Florida.
Sabalenka raced out to a 2-0 lead but Gauff, from nearby Delray Beach and appearing in her first Miami final, got on the board with a love hold and then repelled three break points in her next service game to get to 3-2.
But Sabalenka did not lose focus and eventually went up a double break on the world No 4 before closing out a dominant opening on her serve.
There was very little to separate the two players in the middle set which remained on serve until Gauff broke Sabalenka for the only time in the match to force a third set.
Sabalenka broke Gauff to open the decider, held at love in two consecutive service games to go 5-3 up and then sealed the victory with her fourth break of the match when Gauff sent a backhand wide.
The Belarusian joins Iga Swiatek (2022), Victoria Azarenka (2016), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Steffi Graf (1994, 1996) as the only women to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’.
The Belarusian also improved to 23-1 on the year, her only loss coming in the Australian Open final at the hands of Elena Rybakina, whom she went on to beat in the Indian Wells final and Miami semi-finals.
“I’m so proud of the work that we’ve done – the fight that I was able to bring on court and the level and everything, like just wow,” Sabalenka told Sky Sports Tennis.
“I knew that she was going to fight for every opportunity. She played incredible, but I made like a couple of unforced errors in the last game and I gave her a set. But I was really, really mentally strong in my head.
“I knew that I was doing everything right; it was just a matter of a few points, and I just kept telling myself, just stay focused, try to do better the next time, and that was the mentality going into the third set.”
Henman: Sign of a great champion
Sky Sports Tennis’ Tim Henman:
“It would have been easy for Sabalenka to get frustrated when you think about all the tennis she’s played.
“She’s obviously fatigued mentally and physically, but I think that first couple of games of the third set spoke volumes – the mental capacity, her fortitude to say, okay, I’ve dropped that second set, but I go again. I’ve got one last set here to do the Sunshine Double.
“She got an early break of serve. The way she went about then just taking care of her own service games was very, very impressive. You can feel the confidence on the court just oozing through her veins.
“This is another amazing achievement. And I don’t think she played her best today, but that is the sign of the great champions: when you’re not quite playing your best, but you still get the job done.”
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