March 26 (Reuters) – Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka eased past Elena Rybakina 6-4 6-3 on Thursday to book a Miami Open final against Coco Gauff as the world number one bids to become the fifth woman to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’ after her title win at Indian Wells.
Sabalenka took full advantage of a series of errors from Rybakina to win the opening set, and the four-times Grand Slam champion then raced ahead 4-0 in the second.
World number two Rybakina, who beat the Belarusian in the Australian Open final in January, clawed her way back into the match but Sabalenka shut the door to wrap up a comfortable win.
“I really enjoy our rivalry, she’s an incredible player,” said Sabalenka. “I think I did everything right, she played great but I think I pushed her so much.”
Earlier, Gauff delivered a commanding 6-1 6-1 win over Karolina Muchova to book a place in her sixth WTA 1000 final.
The American world number four made a slow start as Muchova broke immediately to take the opening game but Gauff responded with a break of her own and then reeled off the remaining games and closed out the set to love.
Muchova, 29, had been in fine form coming into the contest, having won the title in Doha earlier this season, but a flurry of unforced errors allowed Gauff to break three times in the second set to complete the victory and extend her perfect head-to-head record against the Czech to 6-0.
Gauff will face Sabalenka on Saturday in their 13th career meeting, the pair having split the previous 12. The American got the better of Sabalenka in last year’s French Open final but the world number one got the win in their most recent meeting at the WTA Finals.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City and Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon and Peter Rutherford)
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