MIAMI GARDENS: World number one Aryna Sabalenka and third-seeded Coco Gauff eased through their second round matches at the Miami Open on Thursday but seventh seed Elena Rybakina crashed out to American Ashlyn Krueger.

Sabalenka beat Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-0 in a contest which lasted just 58 minutes while Gauff, who suffered a surprise exit to Belinda Bencic at Indian Wells last week, made even shorter work of her match, beating 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-0, 6-0 in just 47 minutes.

For Sabalenka, who was beaten in the Indian Wells final by Russian 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva on Sunday, it was a comfortable start to her bid in South Florida.

Krueger, the 20-year-old Texan, claimed her first win over a top-10 opponent beating 2023 Miami Open finalist Rybakina 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in 1 hour and 50 minutes.

The American, ranked 40th in the world, will face Canadian Leylah Fernandez in the next round.

Defending champion Danielle Collins survived some late nerves to get past Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) and book her place in the round-of-32.

Naomi Osaka,the 2022 Miami finalist, defeated 24th seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-4 to earn a meet-up with American wildcard Halley Baptiste.

Baptiste enjoyed an upset 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over 12th seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina.

In the men’s draw, exciting 18-year-old Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca enjoyed plenty of support from compatriots in the crowd in a 6-7(1/7), 6-3, 6-4 win over Learner Tien.

In an all-American clash, Reilly Opelka beat Christopher Eubanks 6-3, 7-6(7/4) to improve to 4-0 in their head-to-head record.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2025