Elena Rybakina reached a milestone this week: her 100th career week inside the WTA Top 5. It is also her third week at a career-high of No. 2.

Rybakina captured the second Grand Slam title of her career at the Australian Open earlier this year and lifted her ranking to No. 2 after a strong start to 2026. Her first entry into the Top 5 came on May 22nd, 2023, when she rose from No. 6 to No. 4 after winning the WTA 1000 event in Rome. That opening spell lasted 77 consecutive weeks before she dipped out on November 10th, 2024.

She returned to the Top 5 for two weeks from January 27th to February 9th, 2025, immediately following the Australian Open. A difficult portion of 2025 saw her struggle for consistency and even fall out of the Top 10. The season shifted after Wimbledon, however. Rybakina reached three straight semifinals in Washington D.C., Canada and Cincinnati, then closed 2025 on an 11-match winning streak that included winning the WTA Finals.

That unbeaten run in Riyadh carried her back into the Top 5, moving her from No. 6 to No. 5. This week marks her 21st consecutive week in the elite since that return, bringing her career total to 100 weeks.

Rybakina has maintained much of that late-2025 form into early 2026. Her best results so far this season are the title in Melbourne and a run to the final at Indian Wells. At Indian Wells she held match point against Aryna Sabalenka before finishing runner-up to the world No. 1 in a third set tie-break, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). After Indian Wells, Rybakina rose to No. 2.

She remains 2,917 points behind Sabalenka in the rankings, 11,025 to 8,108. The upcoming clay-court season presents an opportunity for Rybakina to press for the top ranking.

Coco Gauff left Miami with more affirmation than anguish despite losing the final to Aryna Sabalenka, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 10 minutes. The 22-year-old, ranked No. 4, was the youngest American in the Miami final since Serena Williams more than two decades ago and the first player in the event to take a set off the top-ranked Belarussian.

Gauff arrived at the tournament after a modest start to the season, 11-5 with no finals, and she bucked advice from her support team to skip Miami after retiring at Indian Wells with shooting pains in her left arm. “I just wasn’t in the right mindset leaving Indian Wells,” she said after an early-round win. When asked why she stayed, she added: “You know, life happens. You just realize, you know, if I had the opportunity to play this tournament, I’d rather take it up. Because you don’t know what’s gonna happen. Tomorrow is not a promise. I just want to make sure I make decisions that I know I won’t regret in the future.”

The run to the final included four three-set victories and a one-sided semifinal over former Roland Garros runner-up Karolina Muchova. Gauff opened eyes with movement and relentlessness that Sabalenka acknowledged: “Oh, my God. Her movement is something else. Going into matches against her, I know that there is always going to be an extra ball. It’s all about stay focused and be ready for an extra ball to come back. [Her] movement is something else, you know. I wish I could move even like 70% from what she has, [that] would be enough for me.”

Technically there were loose edges. Gauff struggled with a shaky second serve and forehand return at times, and she committed seven double faults in the final. Analysts traced her serving troubles to a toss issue that is considered fixable. Still, Andrea Petkovic captured the essence of Gauff’s week: “Coco just did what she does so well. She just competes and competes and competes. No matter how well the opponent is playing, how much she is zoning. She just competes and waits for a chance. And she got her chance.”

With clay next on the calendar, Gauff arrives as a defending champion on that surface and confident that parts of her game are clicking. “Earlier this year I felt that I was practicing well and just waiting for it to click. And I think it’s not obviously fully clicked, but I think it is clicking.” She also reflected on the week: “I felt a lot of joy this week. . . I felt a lot of gratitude.”

Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1, defeated Coco Gauff 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to claim the Miami Open title and complete the rare Sunshine Double. The win in Miami follows her triumph at Indian Wells two weeks earlier, giving Sabalenka consecutive victories at the season’s two biggest hard-court events in the U.S.

The three-set final provided a clear arc: Sabalenka asserted control in the opening set, Gauff fought back in the second, and Sabalenka closed it out in the decider to lift her second straight Miami trophy. The result not only marked another big-title addition for Sabalenka but also placed her among an exclusive group of women who have captured both Indian Wells and Miami in the same season.

Sabalenka is just the fifth woman to accomplish the Sunshine Double since the opportunity to win both events on the women’s tour began in 1989, when Indian Wells joined Miami on the WTA calendar. Completing that sweep in the same year remains one of the more uncommon and notable achievements on the WTA schedule.

The sequence of victories at Indian Wells and Miami underscores Sabalenka’s form across consecutive weeks at high-profile hard-court tournaments. Her run combined a strong start, the resilience to answer when challenged, and the ability to finish decisively in a third set of the final.

The title in Miami adds to a season-defining stretch for Sabalenka and reinforces her position at the top of the rankings. The photo credit for coverage of the event is © Mauricio Paiz/NurPhoto.