World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka continues dominance with first Miami Open title

The world No. 1 of women’s tennis continued her command of the sport Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, leaving no doubt of her supremacy.

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus earned her first Miami Open championship by defeating American and No. 4 Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 to become the sixth player to win Miami as the reigning No. 1. Former great Serena Williams did it four times.

The victory was worth $1,124,380 for Sabalenka, 26, who resides in Miami and didn’t drop a set during the tournament. She came into the tournament with $32,163,253 in career prize money, earning her 19th career title.

“First of all, I’m so sorry,’’ Sabalenka told Pegula on Stadium Court just moments after her victory. “For real, if I could share the trophy with someone, I would definitely share it with you. You’re an incredible player. You always push me so hard to play my best. I always enjoy playing against you. It’s always great matches, a great level of tennis.

“Continue what you’re doing and I’m pretty sure we’re going to play many more finals. I’m not sure about the results, because honestly I don’t want to lose in the finals. It sucks, I know.”

Added a breathless Sabalenka: “Oh, That was long. You see how much I like that girl!”

Sabalenka broke Pegula’s serve seven times in the match, which lasted only one hour, 27 minutes, ending when the victor’s down-the-line backhand was returned errantly. The red-clad champion’s racket soared into the sky as the crowd cheered heartily.

In six previous appearances at Miami, Sabalenka’s best results were two quarterfinal finishes.

Pegula, 31, who lives in Boca Raton and is the daughter of Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres billionaire owner Terry Pegula, earned $597,890 to bring her career prize earnings to $17,736,539.

“First, obviously, congratulations to you and your team,’’Pegula said to Sabalenka. “I really don’t want to like you right now, but you’re the best player in the world for a reason. You keep pushing everybody and challenging everybody to get better. Just congrats. An amazing couple weeks here. The last month of tennis you’ve been able to play is amazing.”

Pegula’s grueling last couple of weeks, combined with a fierce, final-round opponent whose power game left little question as to Sabalenka’s dominance in seemingly every facet of the sport (not to mention Sabalenka’s previous 6-2 record in head-to-head matches with Pegula), suggested that the Belarusian would prevail.

Sabalenka’s five match results heading into Saturday’s final: 6-3, 6-0 over No. 64 Viktoriya Tomova (58 minutes); 6-1 over No. 102 Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who retired with an injury after one set (40 minutes); 6-4, 6-4 over No. 15 defending Miami Open champion Danielle Collins (1 hour, 18 minutes); 6-2, 7-5 over No. 9 Qinwen Zheng in a quarterfinal (1 hour, 36 minutes); and 6-2, 6-2 over No. 7 Jasmine Paolini in a semifinal (1 hour, 11 minutes).

Total time on court: 5 hours, 43 minutes.

Pegula’s Miami Open Matches heading into Saturday: 6-4, 6-4 over No. 84 Bernarda Pera, a qualifier (1 hour, 14 minutes); 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 over No. 33 Anna Kalinskaya (2 hours, 16 minutes); 6-2, 6-3 over No. 29 Marta Kostyuk (1 hour, 23 minutes); 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 over No. 60 Emma Raducanu (2 hours, 25 minutes); and 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3 over wild-card No. 140 Alexandra Eala in a seminal (2 hours, 26 minutes).

Total time on court: 9 hours, 44 minutes.

Sabalenka’s last two meetings with Pegula also were victorious finals, at Cincinnati and then the U.S. Open, both matches in 2024.

After beginning 2025 as the champion at Brisbane, Sabalenka, who at 5-11 towers over most opponents, lost her next two finals at the Australian Open and the recent BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif.

Pegula, who stands four inches shorter than Sabalenka, was one of 20 American women to enter the tournament and was vying to become the second consecutive American to win the title. She reached the Miami semifinals in 2022 and 2023.

Had Pegula won, she would have become the oldest player to defeat the No. 1 in a WTA event since Martina Navratilova, then 36, defeated Monica Seles in Paris in 1993.

Danielle Collins, a former two-time NCAA singles champion for Virginia, won Miami last year.

The women’s final on Saturday began late because of a nearly 90-minute rain delay in the men’s doubles final. The world No. 1 doubles player Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador teamed with Mate Pavic of Croatia to extend their winning streak to 10 matches by beating Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Arevalo, 34, is the most accomplished Salvadoran tennis player in history and lives in Plantation. He and Pavic completed the “Sunshine Double’’ after also winning at Indian Wells.

The Miami Open men’s final between world No. 5 Novak Djokovic and No. 54 Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic is set for 3 p.m. Sunday.

The women’s doubles final of Cristina Bucsa (Spain)/Miyu Kato (Japan) vs. Mirra Andreeva (Russia)/Diana Shnaider (Russia) is at 12:30 p.m.

This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 6:31 PM.