Aryna Sabalenka continued her march towards the ‘Sunshine Double’ after defeating Hailey Baptiste on Wednesday.
Baptiste was made to pay for her costly errors at 4-5 in both sets, eventually losing the contest 4-6, 4-6.
As a result, Sabalenka will face Elena Rybakina in the Miami Open semi-finals.
Is Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina the best rivalry in women’s tennis right now?
If not, who is?
Sabalenka defeated Rybakina in the Indian Wells final earlier this month and is now looking to become only the fifth woman in tennis history to complete the double in Miami.
Sabalenka has already made history ahead of the Miami Open semi-finals, joining the same conversation as Serena Williams.
Aryna Sabalenka joins Serena Williams, Martina Hingis and Steffi Graf
As per statisticians OptaAce, Aryna Sabalenka is the fifth player to claim 10 or more consecutive wins at the Miami Open without dropping a set since the tournament’s inception in 1985.
The other four players to do so were Serena Williams, Martina Hingis [pictured below], Steffi Graf and Chris Evert.
Remarkably, of these five women, only one has completed the Sunshine Double: winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year.
Steffi Graf was the first to achieve the feat in 1994, before doing so again in 1996.
Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Świątek are the other three players to have completed the double.
Swiatek was the last to do so, winning Indian Wells and Miami in 2022.
The four women to complete the Sunshine Double
- Steffi Graf [1994, 1996]
- Kim Clijsters [2005]
- Victoria Azarenka [2016]
- Iga Swiatek [2022]
Aryna Sabalenka previews her match with Elena Rybakina
“I think it’s definitely going to be a battle,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview, as per the WTA Tour.
“It’s always a battle, always a fight, always a challenge. And I think we push each other to the limit, and we always bring the best tennis.
“I hope that it’s really enjoyable for you guys to watch us play and I’m super excited [to be] playing her again.”
Thursday’s contest will mark the 17th occasion in which Sabalenka and Rybakina have played each other on the WTA Tour.
Sabalenka currently leads the head-to-head matchup by nine wins to seven, but has lost four of her last six to the Kazakh.
The winner of Sabalenka and Rybakina will play Coco Gauff or Karolina Muchova in the Miami Open final.
Gauff defeated Belinda Bencic in the last eight, while Muchova secured victory over Victoria Mboko.
