World number one Aryna Sabalenka held off fourth-ranked Coco Gauff 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 on Saturday to claim her second straight Miami Open WTA 1000 title.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka, fresh off her first Indian Wells triumph, became the fifth woman to sweep the “Sunshine Double” of Indian Wells and Miami and the first since Iga Swiatek in 2022.<\/p>\n
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The Belarusian star, whose only defeat this year was her Australian Open finals loss to Elena Rybakina, handed Gauff her first career defeat in a hardcourt final.<\/p>\n
The American had won her first nine, including a triumph over Sabalenka in the 2023 US Open championship match.<\/p>\n
Gauff had also beaten the Belarusian for the title on the red clay of Roland Garros last year.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka pocketed the first set with a ruthless display of power and precision.<\/p>\n
She broke Gauff to open the match and, after Gauff saved three break points in a gritty fifth game, broke the American again in the seventh before serving it out in 37 minutes without facing a break point herself.<\/p>\n
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In a tense second set, Gauff’s first break point chance — from a blistering backhand passing winner in the second game — sparked a jubilant reaction from the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins that is just about an hour away from Gauff’s Delray Beach home.<\/p>\n
But Gauff couldn’t convert, slamming a forehand into the net on the next point as Sabalenka held.<\/p>\n
It needed another gutsy hold from Gauff to keep it on serve in the fifth game.<\/p>\n
Up 40-0, she wasted three game points with a pair of errors off the ground and a double fault then had to save a break point before taking the game on her fifth game point.<\/p>\n
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Gauff, finding more depth on her ground strokes to ramp up the pressure on Sabalenka, broke for the first time to take the second set.<\/p>\n
But that was her last hurrah. Sabalenka broke to open the third set and broke again to seal the win when Gauff sailed a backhand long on Sabalenka’s first match point.<\/p>\n
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