Sabalenka Advances in Miami as Gauff and Mboko Secure Quarterfinal Spots

Miami: World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka stayed on course for a rare “Sunshine Double” on Monday night, downing China’s Zheng Qinwen in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals of Miami Open 2026.

Sabalenka, who is aiming to defend the Miami title she won for the first time last year, eased past 2024 Olympic champion and 23rd seed Zheng 6-3, 6-4 in one hour 25 minutes.

The 27-year-old four-time Grand Slam champion is bidding to join an elite group of women who have won both the WTA Indian Wells and Miami Open in the same year.

Only four other women — Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996, Kim Clijsters in 2005, Victoria Azarenka in 2016 and Iga Swiatek in 2022 — have achieved the feat.

Sabalenka, who beat Elena Rybakina to win in Indian Wells earlier this month, will face unseeded American Hailey Baptiste in the quarters. Baptiste dispatched 25th seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-4, unleashing 11 aces on her way to victory.

American fourth seed Coco Gauff was given a scare by veteran Romanian Sorana Cirstea before advancing to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory.

Gauff looked to be progressing smoothly into the last eight after taking the first set and motoring into a 3-1 lead in the second.

But Cirstea pounced on a jittery spell from Gauff to reel off five straight games to take the second set 6-3 and force a decider.

Gauff regrouped impressively in the third, taking a 3-0 lead before a long break in play as a spectator received medical treatment.

When play resumed, Gauff wasted no time wrapping up victory, breaking Cirstea twice more to win in 2hr 3min.

“I think overall I’m most proud of just mentally staying in there,” Gauff said.

“As the match got longer I was able to raise my level,” added Gauff, who will face either sixth seed Amanda Anisimova or 12th seed Belinda Bencic in the quarter-finals.

Czech 13th seed Karolina Muchova strolled into the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-2 rout of Alexandra Eala of the Philippines, advancing in just one hour.

Victoria Mboko’s rapid rise has the Canadian teenager poised for Grand Slam success, former U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick said after she beat fellow teenager Mirra Andreeva 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-0 on Monday to reach the last eight of Miami Open.

Mboko picked up her first WTA Tour-level win in Miami last year and has enjoyed a string of deep runs at tournaments in 2026, highlighted by a fourth-round appearance at the Australian Open in January.

Seeded 10th in Miami, Mboko turned in another assured display against doubles partner and emerging rival Andreeva on the sun-drenched hard courts, overcoming a second-set lapse to pull away in dominant fashion.

The Canadian Open champion broke the hard-serving Russian, who received treatment on her back during the match, three times in the decider and sealed victory with a blistering inside-out forehand on match point for her fifth top-10 win of the season.

Mboko will face Karolina Muchova for a place in the semifinals after the in-form Czech crushed Alexandra Eala 6-0, 6-2 earlier on Monday. Agencies

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