Miami, March 29 – Aryna Sabalenka defeated World No. 4 Coco Gauff with a dominant 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory to win the Miami Open trophy, becoming the first player to achieve the Sunshine Double since Iga Swiatek in 2022.
This is Sabalenka's second consecutive Miami Open title, the first time this has been achieved since Ash Barty did it in 2019 and 2021 (no tournament was held in 2020 due to the pandemic). Furthermore, she is the first to achieve this feat in consecutive years since Serena Williams from 2013 to 2015.
Sabalenka is the fifth woman to win both Indian Wells and Miami in the same season for the Sunshine Double, joining Steffi Graf (1994, '96), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016), and Iga Swiatek (2022).
She is the fourth player since 2000 to reach the finals in her first four tournaments of the year (Martina Hingis, 2001, Serena Williams, 2003, and Victoria Azarenka, 2012), all on hard courts. She won three of them, including Brisbane and the Sunshine Double.
"It means a lot," said Sabalenka. "My goal has always been to put my name in history, and I just did it. It just sounds so unreal. I don't know how I was able to achieve that, but I'm super proud right now. Of course, I'm very happy with this beautiful trophy."
This win marks her 24th WTA singles title and her 30th overall, including six in doubles. Among these, she has four Grand Slam singles titles, two in doubles, and 11 WTA 1000 singles titles, with two more in doubles – one of which came in Miami in 2019.
She has accumulated these totals while spending 83 weeks at World No. 1, including an active streak of 75 weeks. On Monday, she will hold the top spot for the 76th consecutive week, surpassing Swiatek's longest streak and giving her the longest run at No. 1 since Barty's 114-week stretch from September 2019 to March 2022 (including the rankings freeze during the Covid-19 pandemic).