World No. 2 Elena Rybakina opened her Miami Open campaign with a straight-sets win over fellow Kazakh Yulia Putintseva at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday night.

Playing her first match on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz since losing to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells Open final on Sunday, Rybakina broke early to lead 3-1. Although Putintseva, who had won two of their three previous meetings, broke back to level at 3-3, Rybakina responded with another break in the eighth game and served out the set 6-3.

In the second set, Rybakina broke in the seventh and ninth games to seal a 6-3, 6-3 win in 1 hour, 17 minutes.

“Very happy, to be honest it’s always tough matches against Yulia,” Rybakina said during her on-court interview. “I’m glad my serve was working today. I also needed some time to adapt to the court. I didn’t even hit here yet. So I’m very glad with the win.”

It was her 18th tour-level win of 2026. She is tied for second-most wins on tour with Sabalenka, both trailing Elina Svitolina, who has 20 wins so far this year. The Kazakh has now won her past 22 opening matches at WTA-level events, with her last opening-round loss coming at this event last year to Ashlyn Krueger.

Rybakina also leads the tour in winners and aces so far in 2026, with 592 winners and 157 aces. She has also hit the most winners (323) at WTA 1000-level events this season and is happy with her season so far.

“Of course now it’s getting physically a little more tiring,” she said. “You need to push yourself. I’m happy when things are working on the court for me. I’m just trying to improve in the little things I can. For now everything’s been working pretty well. Can’t complain, so just looking forward for the next match.”

That next match will come against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, the 27th seed, who beat lucky loser Kamila Rakhimova 6-2, 6-4 in another second-round match Friday. Rybakina leads their head-to-head 4-1, including a win two weeks ago at the same stage in Indian Wells.

“The most important for me will be to serve well and be fresh and try to recover,” she said looking ahead to the next round. “I have one day, so I’ll try to do my best and just fight for the next match.”