Aryna Sabalenka believes she is ready for the challenge of her rival Coco Gauff in the Miami Open final as she stands one win away from winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year for the first time.
“She’s a fighter,” Sabalenka said of Gauff. “She’s a great player, of course. We played a lot of matches, a lot of tight matches, a lot of big finals. And, yeah, she’s a great player and I’m really excited to face her in the final. I think it’s going to be a great battle and I cannot wait to play that match.”
The rivalry between Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, the top two players in the rankings, has defined the 2026 season so far, with the two players producing a pair of spectacular battles in the finals of the Australian Open and Indian Wells. Their semi-final in Miami on Thursday, however, quickly turned into a rout as the Belarusian snatched a second win over Rybakina this month with an imperious performance, dominating the Kazakhstani 6-4, 6-3.
Earlier in the day, Gauff continued to build momentum in her home tournament as she improved her perfect record against Karolina Muchova to six wins out of six with a 6-1, 6-1 win over the in-form Czech.
Gauff and Sabalenka first played each other six years ago and their head-to-head is 6-6. However, the American has defeated Sabalenka in their two grand slam finals, winning her first major at the 2023 US Open and her second last year at the French Open. On both occasions, Gauff frustrated a nervous Sabalenka with her peerless defensive skills and grit, winning both matches in three dramatic sets.
“I think the rhythm is always different and [she forces] unforced errors because she’s always like … with Coco, you know that you have to play an extra ball and the ball always comes back. Sometimes not perfect, but it’s always back on your side,” said Sabalenka. “You have to be aggressive, you have to go for your shots and, yeah, she pushes you into the long rallies and I think that’s what makes her difficult.”
After Gauff’s win over the world No 1 in Paris, a devastated Sabalenka uttered numerous unsportsmanlike remarks. She later apologised to Gauff, with the pair reconciling for a TikTok dance video together a few weeks later ahead of Wimbledon.
Muchova knows the challenge of facing Gauff well. The Czech had arrived in the match with a clear edge in form over her. The 13th seed won her first WTA 1000 title in Doha last month and she has played some of the best tennis of her career at the start of this season. However, her contests with the American are proof of how difficult it can be to overcome an unfavourable matchup.
On the ATP tour, some American players describe a player with a dominant head-to-head record as being the other player’s “daddy”. Although Gauff is very familiar with the term, she said they do not have similar phrases on the women’s tour. “We don’t have anything like that,” she said, laughing. “I don’t know. I feel like a lot of American guys, they’re a little bit on the ‘uppier’ [sic] side, so they’re able to say this.
“But for me, I don’t think of it like that. But I’ve also been on the other end of it, too, so I don’t want to … I mean, Iga beat me so many times in a row. So I don’t want her to be considered my dad. But I was able to reverse it, so now we’re both each other’s daddies? I don’t know.”
Asked whether she would want a phrase for such dominant matchups in women’s tennis, Gauff burst out laughing: “I don’t think daddy’s the term. I don’t think mommy’s the term either. I don’t know. Dominatrix? I don’t know.
“But I don’t want a term because I know I have some matches where I’m on the losing end of that too.
“So I’m just going to say it was a good day, I’m lucky. I always say against her I don’t know why the matchup is like this. I’m going to take it, but I don’t think it’s going to last for ever.”
