World number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka powered past second-ranked Elena Rybakina 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to line up a Miami Open 2026 title clash with Coco Gauff.
Sabalenka, who fell to Rybakina in the Australian Open final before turning the tables on the Kazakh in the Indian Wells title match earlier this month, broke the big-serving Rybakina twice in each set to come out on top in the blockbuster semifinal and keep her bid for the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami on track.
Sabalenka had to save a match point to beat Rybakina in Indian Wells, but she was on the front foot on Thursday, seizing a break for a 3-1 lead in the opening set.
Rybakina recouped the break immediately, but Sabalenka broke again to pocket the set and took command in the second with a break for 2-0 in a game which Rybakina led 40-0.
Trailing 0-4, Rybakina clawed back a break for 4-1, but Sabalenka wouldn’t flinch again.
Rybakina saved one match point on her own serve before Sabalenka served it out with a love game punctuated by a fierce forehand winner.
The match marked the first time outside the WTA Finals that the world’s two top-ranked players met before a final since Martina Hingis and Jana Novotna in the 1998 US Open semifinals.
It could only come about because Rybakina was seeded third, her rise to second in the rankings on Monday coming a day after the Miami draw was made.
In the other encounter, Coco Gauff delivered a commanding 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Karolina Muchova to book her place in the Miami Open final, her sixth WTA 1000 final.
The American world number four made a slow start as Muchova broke immediately to take the opening game, but that proved to be the Czech’s only moment of clarity.
Gauff responded with a break of her own to level and then reeled off the remaining games without dropping a single one, closing out the first set to love in ruthless fashion.
Muchova, 29, had been in fine form coming into the contest, having won the title in Doha earlier this season before defeating Victoria Mboko, in a rematch of that Doha final, in the Miami quarterfinals.
But a flurry of unforced errors undid her in the second set, with Gauff breaking three times to complete a dominant victory while extending her perfect head-to-head record to six wins against the Czech.
Gauff will face Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final.
