Tennis great Martina Navratilova believes that Aryna Sabalenka may have further “stamped her signature” on the 2026 season following her triumph at the Miami Open.

World No 1 Sabalenka defeated Coco Gauff in three sets to successfully retain her Miami title on Saturday, defeating the fourth seed 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to claim back-to-back victories at the WTA 1000 event.

Victory for the Belarusian saw her not only defend her crown in Miami, but also become just the fifth woman to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’ following her victory in Indian Wells earlier this month.

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Sabalenka has contested just four tournaments in 2026 but has reached at least the final in all four of them, with her only defeat coming to Elena Rybakina in the championship match of the Australian Open.

At the start of 2026, Sabalenka triumphed at the Brisbane International, and her triumphs in Indian Wells and Miami mean she has won a tour-leading three titles already this season.

The 27-year-old holds a commanding lead as the world No 1 and, despite Rybakina’s recent resurgence, clearly remains the woman to beat on the WTA Tour.

Sabalenka finished 2024 and 2025 as the year-end world No 1, and 18-time Grand Slam singles champion Navratilova appears to believe that another dominant year lies in wait for the Belarusian.

Speaking on Tennis Channel following Saturday’s final, Navratilova backed Sabalenka to continue her dominance across the season after a flawless ‘Sunshine Double’ run.

She said: “Coco Gauff gave it everything she had. I thought she held her nerve really well.

“But Sabalenka, she’s got too much firepower, she just keeps coming at you, and Sabalenka showing what a champion she is.

“To win these two tournaments [Indian Wells and Miami] back to back now, that they’re two weeks each. It’s a really, really difficult feat. So, Sabalenka on the big front foot to the rest of the field, she’s done something that is done very rarely, and there’s a reason for that: ‘I’m number one.’

“I mean, [we’re] probably looking back on this one as where she really stamped her signature on the season, but well done to both players.

“It was a good match. It was well-played, high-quality tennis. Some drama; the crowd didn’t get who they wanted to win, but Sabalenka the rightful winner.”

With the ‘Sunshine Swing’ now complete, Sabalenka and the rest of the WTA Tour will turn their attentions to the upcoming clay-court swing.

The Belarusian has found success on clay in recent years, most notably at the Madrid Open — where she holds a joint-record of three titles at the WTA 1000 event.

Sabalenka will be looking to defend her Madrid Open title in early May, but her clay swing will begin at the Women’s Stuttgart Open in mid-April.

The world No 1 has lost all four finals she has contested in Stuttgart, most recently falling to Jelena Ostapenko in 2025.

Sabalenka will also likely compete at the Italian Open in Rome this May, where she previously finished as the runner-up to Iga Swiatek in 2024.

But, her main target will likely be the French Open title, where she will look to bounce back from last year’s three-set final loss to Gauff.

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