Published: March 24, 2026 at 2:10 pm
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka is back in the Miami Open quarterfinals after earning her eighth win over Zheng Qinwen in nine meetings at the WTA Tour level on Monday evening. She needed 1 hour and 25 minutes to secure a 6-3, 6-4 victory on Stadium Court.
In a highly anticipated meeting, Zheng showed flashes of her top-end level, but each time momentum shifted her way, Sabalenka wrestled it back.
The first major momentum swing came late in the opening set. After racing out to a 3-0 and then 5-1 lead, Sabalenka watched Zheng save three set points and break her while serving for the set. Zheng then held to close the gap to 5-3, but Sabalenka responded with a hold to love to seal the opener.
Her most decisive stretch came at 4-3 in the second set. Up a break but facing triple break point, Sabalenka never wavered. Zheng’s forehand sailed long on the first, Sabalenka crushed a smash to erase the second and she ultimately saved all three, winning five straight points to hold for 5-3.
Zheng again applied pressure, recovering from 0-30 down to hold for 5-4, but Sabalenka closed the match with another hold to love to secure her latest straight-sets win over the former Australian Open finalist.
With the victory, Sabalenka became the first player to reach 15 consecutive WTA quarterfinals since Justine Henin, who made 25 straight between Charleston 2006 and Miami 2008. It’s also Sabalenka’s 32nd career WTA 1000 quarterfinal, trailing only Victoria Azarenka (38) among active players.
Sabalenka faces Baptiste
In the last eight, she’ll face American Hailey Baptiste, who reached her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal after backing up her upset of World No. 8 Elina Svitolina with another commanding straight-sets win, this time over No. 25 seed Jelena Ostapenko.
Baptiste defeated the former French Open champion 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 23 minutes on Butch Buchholz Court and continued to control proceedings as she has throughout the week. Baptiste has yet to drop a set in four matches, with wins over Tatjana Maria, No. 19 seed Liudmila Samsonova, Svitolina and Ostapenko.
Baptiste has been getting the job done this week behind a blistering serve, which again set the tone on Monday. In what was her first meeting with Ostapenko, she struck 11 aces and won 68% of her first-serve points. Her second serve was nearly as effective, winning 64% of those points. She was broken just once and saved nine break points in total.
Rybakina faces Pegula in quarters
Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula, two of the most in-form players on the WTA Tour this season, set up a quarterfinal showdown at the Miami Open after both posted straight-set victories on Monday.
Fifth-seeded Pegula, winner in Dubai last month, was first on court against No. 34 Jaqueline Cristian. The American did not face a single break point on her serve and converted four of 13 break-point chances to complete a 6-4, 6-1 win in 1 hour, 8 minutes.
American Jessica Pegula, who improved to 2-0 against Cristian, advanced to the Miami quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive year, becoming the first player to achieve the feat since Agnieszka Radwanska (2010-14)
Pegula, who improved to 2-0 against Cristian, advanced to the Miami quarterfinals for the fifth consecutive year, becoming the first player to achieve the feat since Agnieszka Radwanska (2010-14). She is also only the third American in the tournament’s history to reach five consecutive quarterfinals in Miami, after Chris Evert (1985-89) and Serena Williams (2001-05).
Later in the evening, third-seeded Rybakina, champion at the Australian Open in January, was equally impressive, not losing her serve in a 6-2, 6-2 win over Australian qualifier Talia Gibson in 1 hour, 4 minutes.
The win ended Gibson’s impressive run in the Sunshine Double, where she became only the third player to reach the round of 16 at both Indian Wells and Miami in the same season as a qualifier or lucky loser, after Gisela Dulko (2004) and Varvara Gracheva (2023).
Rybakina holds a 5-3 lead over Pegula in matches on the WTA Tour, including wins in their last four meetings over the past seven months.
Bencic stumps Anisimova
A “super clean and confident” performance from Belinda Bencic earned her an upset of one Top 10-ranked American at the Miami Open on Monday night. The No. 12 seed led nearly wire-to-wire in a 6-2, 6-2 thumping of No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova to put her through to a 12th career WTA 1000 quarterfinal, and second in Miami after she reached the 2022 semifinals. She’ll face another Florida resident, No. 4 seed Coco Gauff, on Tuesday night to match her tournament best.
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Bencic had good reason to praise her play against Anisimova, in a match that was projected to be a late-afternoon affair but ended up taking the court at 9 p.m. after three of the four matches preceding it on Grandstand stretched to three sets. She landed 87% of her first serves, winning 72% of those points, and hit 19 winners in 14 games to break a 2-2 head-to-head tie against the two-time Grand Slam singles finalist. She saved the only break point she faced, too, which came when she was already ahead 6-2, 4-1.
Gauff downs Cirstea, meets Bencic
World No. 4 Coco Gauff is into her first Miami Open quarterfinal, defeating Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in a back-and-forth contest. She’s now the youngest player on the WTA Tour Benz to reach the quarterfinals at every existing 1000 event since the format was introduced in 2009.
Gauff will face Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals of her hometown tournament after the Swiss upset Amanda Anisimova.
Both players had some strong winners, on both forehand and backhand, though Coco Gauff had the upper edge winning 46 points when receiving compared to Sorana Cirstea’s 36
Both players had some strong winners, on both forehand and backhand, though Gauff had the upper edge winning 46 points when receiving compared to Cirstea’s 36.
However, Gauff won eight of the nine points in her final two service games to fend Cirstea off. Gauff has now won both meetings between the two, with the previous coming at the 2020 Australian Open.
Mboko downs Andreeva
Twelve months ago, Victoria Mboko was celebrating the first WTA main-draw win of her career as a wild card at the Miami Open. On Monday, the No. 10 seed advanced to her fourth WTA 1000 quarterfinal with a 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-0 defeat of No. 8 seed Mirra Andreeva in 2 hours and 17 minutes.
Over the past year, Mboko has become adept at revenge matches: she lost her first meetings with Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Andreeva before defeating them the next time they played. She’ll face that challenge again next in a rematch of February’s Doha final against Karolina Muchova. Five weeks ago, the Czech triumphed 6-4, 7-5 to claim her first WTA 1000 crown, and she’s also carried her momentum into the Sunshine Swing to make her first Miami quarterfinal.
Muchova downs Eala, sets up Mboko fight
Doha champion Karolina Muchova kicked off the Miami Open Round of 16 with a masterclass, defeating last year’s semifinalist Alexandra Eala 6-0, 6-2 in exactly an hour to reach her third quarterfinal of 2026.
In the first Miami quarterfinal of her career, Muchova will next face No. 10 seed Victoria Mboko in a rematch of last month’s Doha final, which the Czech won 6-4, 7-5.
