![\"Coco](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774694228_843_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nMIAMI GARDENS, Fla. \u2014 Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff are back on a big stage in the final of the Miami Open as their growing rivalry heats up.<\/p>\n
Gauff, the South Floridian who beat Sabalenka in the 2023 U.S. Open and 2025 French Open finals, will meet the top-seeded Belarusian at Hard Rock Stadium at 3 p.m. EDT.<\/p>\n
This WTA 1000 final will mark their 13th meeting, with the series knotted at 6-6. They faced off three times in finals in 2025. Sabalenka won the last meeting in the group stage of the WTA Finals in November. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve played so many matches, and it\u2019s physical when I play her every time,” Gauff said. \u201cShe\u2019s playing great tennis. She\u2019s definitely world No. 1 for a reason and it\u2019s going to be a great challenge.”<\/p>\n
Gauff is making her first Miami Open final appearance. The Delray Beach, Florida product had never made it past the fourth round in her hometown tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a fighter,\u2019\u2019 Sabalenka said. \u201cShe\u2019s a great player. We played a lot of tight matches, a lot of big finals. She is an incredible player. I\u2019m really excited to face her in the final. I think it\u2019s going to be a great battle. I cannot wait to play that.”<\/p>\n
Sabalenka is attempting to win the \u201cSunshine Double\u201d \u2014 the back-to-back March hard-court tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Coco Gauff celebrates a point against Karolina Muchova, of the Czech Republic, in the semifinals of the Miami Open tennis tournament, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Credit: AP\/Jim Rassol<\/p>\n
Sabalenka won in California on March 15 with a three-set victory over Elena Rybakina. Gauff had to retire during her third-round match against Alexandra Eala in Indian Wells because of a nerve injury in her left forearm. Gauff said her team wanted to skip the Miami Open but she insisted.<\/p>\n
“With Coco, you know that you have to play an extra ball, and the ball always comes back, sometimes not perfect, but it\u2019s always back on your side,” Sabalenka said. \u201cShe pushes you into the long rallies and I think that\u2019s what makes her difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sabalenka\u2019s new residence is Miami and she has a strong Brazilian following because of her Brazilian fiance, Georgios Frangules. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super curious how the stadium is going to be on Saturday,\u2019\u2019 Sabalenka said. \u201cIt couldn\u2019t be a better final. I feel happy for her that she\u2019s finding her tennis back.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. \u2014 Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff are back on a big stage in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124,32029,122],"class_list":["post-209480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-tennis","tag-wires-bot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}