MIAMI— Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka kept their “Sunshine Double” dreams alive with emphatic victories at the ATP/WTA Miami Open as defending men’s champion Jakub Mensik joined a slew of seeds who crashed out.
Sinner and Sabalenka are bidding to join an elite band of players who have won Indian Wells and the Miami Open back-to-back, and arrived in Florida brimming with confidence after their respective victories in the California desert earlier this month.
Women’s world No 1 Sabalenka, defending the Miami title she won for the first time last year, cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 demolition of China’s 2024 Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen.
“She’s a tough opponent and I’m super happy with the level I played,” Sabalenka said according to AFP. “I can definitely say that it felt like home.
Sinner, who is chasing a second victory in Miami after lifting the title in 2024, was similarly comfortable in his third-round clash with French 30th seed Corentin Moutet, winning 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the last 16.
Sabalenka is aiming to become only the fifth woman to complete the Indian Wells-Miami double after Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek.
“I feel like I’m getting better, serving better, getting used to these conditions, which are tricky. But I’m getting more and more comfortable with every match,” added Sabalenka, who faces unseeded American Hailey Baptiste in the quarter-finals.
