Aryna Sabalenka arrived at this spring’s hard-court swing determined to change the narrative that has haunted her in big finals. The world No. 1 and defending champion at the Miami Open extended a dominant run on Monday, beating No. 23 seed Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals without dropping a set.

Her form traces back to Indian Wells, where Sabalenka won the BNP Paribas Open, defeating Naomi Osaka, Victoria Mboko and Linda Noskova on the way to the title and avenging the Melbourne loss to Elena Rybakina in the final. That resurgence followed the disappointment of the Australian Open final in January, part of a sequence of major final defeats that also included the 2025 WTA Finals and the 2025 Australian Open final, both to Elena Rybakina, the Roland Garros final to Coco Gauff, and the 2025 Australian Open final to Madison Keys.

Asked what has driven the turnaround, Sabalenka pointed to a technical change. “Maybe I did a small adjustment on my racquet,” she told Prakash Amritraj after her 6-3, 6-4 win. “I feel like there is always going to be the moment where you feel like you can improve in these little, but not little, things. I was brave enough before Indian Wells to do small adjustment on my racquet, and I’m super happy that I did it.”

She also described using a break in February to regroup physically and mentally, withdrawing from WTA 1000 events in Doha and Dubai to debrief with her team and reframe how she approaches finals. “I’m not going to open all of the cards!” Sabalenka joked in Miami. “I just felt like there’s few things in my game where players were trying to… I don’t know, beat me through few things. I felt like there is couple things that I could do in the racquet to feel more confident and feel more comfortable in those particular shots… So I adjusted the racquet and it really helped a lot.”

Since making the tweak, Sabalenka has lost only one set across the Sunshine Swing, that coming against Rybakina in the Indian Wells final.

Jannik Sinner extended an uninterrupted run of dominance at Masters 1000 level, setting a new record for consecutive sets won at that tournament tier.

By beating Corentin Moutet in the third round of the Miami Open, 6-1, 6-4, Sinner reached 26 straight sets won at Masters 1000 events, surpassing Novak Djokovic’s previous mark of 24 set wins in a row from 2016. The victory moves the Italian ahead in the record books for streaks that date back to 1990, when Masters-level tournaments began.

Sinner’s run includes flawless performances at the two most recent Masters 1000 tournaments. He captured Paris last fall without dropping a set (10-0) and followed that by sweeping Indian Wells last week (12-0). In Miami, he tied Djokovic’s long-standing record two days earlier with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the event. The straight-sets win over Moutet then took him past the previous high-water mark.

The streak reflects consecutive completed sets won at Masters 1000 events; note that a walkover loss would end the run. With the Miami Open still under way, Sinner’s sequence now stands as the longest such streak in Masters 1000 history.

© 2026 Getty Images

Coco Gauff advanced to her first Miami Open quarterfinal after a three-set win over Sorana Cirstea, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, at the WTA 1000 event. Having recovered from a set down to win her first two matches in the tournament, Gauff again battled through a deciding set to secure the last-eight berth.

This victory delivered two milestones for Gauff. It marks the first time she has reached the Miami quarterfinals. She had previously been stopped in the fourth round three times: in 2022 by Iga Swiatek, in 2024 by Caroline Garcia, and in 2025 by Magda Linette.

More significantly, the result completes a career set of quarterfinal appearances across all 10 WTA 1000 events on the current calendar. Miami had been the only tournament missing from that list, and Gauff filled that gap with Monday’s win.

The timing underlines the scale of the achievement. Gauff turned 22 just 10 days ago, and reaching quarterfinals or better at every WTA 1000 event by that age is an uncommon feat.

Gauff’s run in Miami also leaves her poised for further progress at the WTA 1000 level. She is now a small number of wins away from converting her quarterfinal collection into a set of semifinals. At present she has not yet reached the semifinals at Doha, Miami, or Canada, and Miami offers the immediate opportunity to add another semifinal appearance.

The match against Cirstea capped a week in which Gauff repeatedly came from behind to prevail, reinforcing her form at a high tier of the tour. With the quarterfinal reached, she will carry momentum into her next match and the chance to extend both her Miami and overall WTA 1000 records.