Elena Rybakina recovered from a first-set loss to beat Jessica Pegula 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and advance to the Miami Open semifinals. The third seed completed the comeback in two hours and 15 minutes at Hard Rock Stadium, recording a fourth straight victory over the No. 5 seed.

The win sets up a possible rematch with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who was scheduled to play her quarterfinal Wednesday evening against Hailey Baptiste. Rybakina’s progression marks her third WTA semifinal of the 2026 season.

Rybakina arrived in Miami off a runner-up finish at the BNP Paribas Open, where she came within a point of defeating Sabalenka. That narrow loss did not halt momentum that began at the end of last season when she captured the WTA Finals title in Riyadh. She reached the Miami quarterfinals without dropping a set.

Pegula, the American home favorite, had been a familiar opponent. She fell in straight sets to Rybakina last week at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and had also lost to her in Riyadh and in the Australian Open semifinals. The Miami quarterfinal opened badly for Pegula, who raced to a 4-0 lead and closed out the first set 6-2.

The match shifted early in the second set when Pegula held three break points in the fifth game but could not convert. Rybakina then won seven of the next eight games to level the match and earned a 2-0 lead in the decider.

The third set was tightly contested. Pegula saved three break points in the fifth game and pressed again on Rybakina’s serve, but Rybakina answered, saving a break point of her own and finishing the match on a match point created by a strong serve-forehand combination. Her final point came on a service winner, sealing the comeback and a place in the semifinals.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka spent part of the week in Milan, attending Gucci’s “Primavera” Fall 2026 show as she prepares to return to competition at the BNP Paribas Open. The appearance followed her unveiling as a global ambassador for Gucci during the Australian Open in January.

Sabalenka sat front row at the show alongside fashion figures and entertainers including Donatella Versace, Romeo Beckham, Shawn Mendes and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. She wore head-to-toe Gucci, pairing a sleek black turtleneck with a striped blazer for the presentation of what Marie Claire reported was the debut of a new creative vision from the brand’s creative director Denma.

Recapping the day on social media, Sabalenka called the show “breathtaking” and said she was “grateful to have witnessed such a defining moment.” She continued to share looks across the week, writing in another post that she was “throwing ‘fits [outfits].” In that post she modeled a fur coat that drew a reaction from her partner, Georgios Frangulis. “Oh wow,” he wrote in the comments, as retired WTA pro Elena Vesnina dubbed her a “queen.”

Sabalenka has spoken openly about the significance of the partnership she revealed in Melbourne. She said the collaboration “means the world.” “They’re bold. They’re elegant. They’re super cool,” she gushed in Melbourne. “I feel like it’s a perfect fit, the collaboration. I don’t know. I’m the happiest person on earth right now. I couldn’t dream a few months ago that I’ll join the best brand. Right now I’m just super happy.”

The Milan appearance offered a brief cultural interlude before Sabalenka returns to the tour schedule at the BNP Paribas Open. © 2026 Daniele Venturelli

Naomi Osaka used a recent Hypebeast digital cover to reflect on the arc of her career and the priorities that have shifted since becoming a parent. The four-time Grand Slam singles champion discussed fashion, off-court interests and the ways tennis has changed since she first arrived on tour, but much of the feature turned to how she hopes to be remembered.

Osaka, who acknowledged a “love-hate relationship” with the sport, said the birth of her daughter, Shai, in 2023 reframed what success means to her. “When I was young, success meant winning every match,” she says. “Now it’s just being healthy, being able to play matches, seeing my daughter smile.”

The former world No. 1 described a broader aspiration: to leave the game more welcoming for those who feel different. “I would hope my legacy is that I’m someone who made it easier for the generation after,” she adds. “And also someone that made it easy for the people that are different or unique.

“For me, with my background being Japanese and Haitian and American, I’ve just always been considered different. And growing up, playing with the Japanese flag, but not looking fully Japanese, it just made me aware of being a little different from everyone else. I was always kind of OK with it and I realized that for some people, it’s tough to accept that.

“I realized there are always a few black sheep in the bunch and just hope that they know that it’s cool to be different and unique. Those are things that make you, you and it’s something that should be embraced rather than something that should be shamed.”

Osaka also addressed present ambitions. She told the magazine that it “suck[ed]” she got injured during this year’s Australian Open, a major she has won twice, and made clear she hopes to capture at least one more Grand Slam before stepping away. “[T]hat would be a very big goal I’d love to set for myself, which I think is possible,” she says, while leaving open the possibility of future involvement in the sport under selective terms.