Aryna Sabalenka had prepared for a night like this with her team for months, and when the decisive moment arrived in Miami she met it.

She took the first set by breaking early and again in the seventh, finishing with a backhand winner on set point. Coco Gauff fought back in the second, injecting pace on returns and using heavy forehands to tilt momentum. The crowd pushed for Gauff, and the American’s recovery forced a tense third set.

Sabalenka said her team had worked through the emotional pattern that had troubled her in big finals. “We were chatting a lot, trying to dig deep and find the reason why I’m letting these finals get too much in my head, why I’m letting myself get too emotional,” Sabalenka said of her team. “Mentally we found a way to improve.”

That adjustment showed early in the third. With Gauff serving in the opening game, Sabalenka regained control by keeping pace high but away from the lines, producing a forehand and backhand winner that earned a break. From there Gauff stayed close, but Sabalenka held at love for 4-2 and again for 5-3. The match ended when Gauff committed a series of errors.

“I lost a couple of opportunities in that second set, but I was just trying to stay mentally positive,” Sabalenka said. “Going into the third set, I was trying to remind myself I’m strong enough to handle that.”

Sabalenka described the month as the best of her life on both personal and professional fronts. “I’m super happy to see that everything came together and worked really well for me this month.” She is 27, became engaged to Georgios Frangulis, and on court completed a rare sweep by winning Indian Wells and Miami back to back, joining Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek (2022).

Sabalenka had begun her run by saving a match point to win Indian Wells against Elena Rybakina. Against Gauff, she closed out another three-set final, an example of the mental strides she and her team aimed to make.

The Miami Open title match pits Jannik Sinner against Jiri Lehecka with a clear statistical edge for the Italian. Sinner leads the head-to-head 4-0 and has not dropped a set in any meeting, including their most recent encounter at Roland Garros in 2025, which ended 6-0, 6-1, 6-2.

Sinner arrives having won every set he has played at Indian Wells and Miami this swing, 22 in total, and stands one victory away from completing the first men’s Sunshine Double in nine years. He was tested in the semifinal against Alexander Zverev, when he had to save break points early in the first set and withstand an emotional charge from the German in the second. “What made the difference today? I served very well at the end, which helped me,” Sinner said. “So, I’m very happy about today’s performance.”

Lehecka enters as a significant underdog but produced one of his best performances in the semifinal, defeating an in-form Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-2. He made more than 70 percent of his first serves, did not face a break point and used his returns to push Fils out of position. “I felt that I needed to put a little bit more risk into my returns to be the one who is dictating the pace of the of the point,” Lehecka said. “So that was my goal today, and I think that I executed it well.”

Lehecka will need a near-peak performance to change the pattern. The preview notes a recent blueprint: Jakub Mensik was the last player to beat Sinner, six weeks ago in Doha, accomplishing it with 11 aces and maximal baseline aggression. Lehecka is capable of similar levels of aggression on his best day, and the Miami courts can reward that style. Sinner’s familiarity with these conditions is strong; he is 24-3 on these courts and has not lost a match here since 2023.

The final therefore shapes up as a test of whether Lehecka can summon sustained aggression and precision against a player whose recent form and head-to-head record mark him the favorite.

Aryna Sabalenka extended a spring winning streak and produced a commanding semifinal performance to advance to her second straight Miami Open final. The top seed followed a quarterfinal where she said she was playing at a “good 8” on a 10-point scale and still had room to improve by producing a wire-to-wire 6-4, 6-3 victory over her chief rival, world No. 2 Elena Rybakina.

Sabalenka won six consecutive games at one stage and closed out the match in straight sets. The result was her 10th victory in 17 meetings with Rybakina, and only the second time she has beaten her in straight sets. A former Top 10 player called the match Sabalenka’s best performance of the tournament thus far. The top seed displayed more than raw power, mixing serve effectiveness with a fuller array of shots to finish the job and reach the final.

After the match Sabalenka said she thought she “did everything right” to win again against Rybakina, coming less than two weeks after saving a match point against the same opponent to win the BNP Paribas Open. “I really enjoy our rivalry. She’s an incredible player, always pushes to me to the limit,” she said. “With her, you have to bring your best tennis, and that’s why I was able to pull our such great tennis today.”

“She played great, but I pushed her so much, so I’m proud with this win,” Sabalenka added. “It’s always tough, physically and mentally, and I’m happy to get another win against her.”

Waiting in the final will be No. 3 seed Coco Gauff. The pair have split 12 career meetings, with Gauff holding a 2-1 edge in championship matches. Gauff has stated she wants this title as much as a Grand Slam, and Sabalenka will aim to become the fifth woman in the Open Era to follow an Indian Wells title with Miami in the same season.