Sabalenka hopes ‘shot of her life’ carries over to Miami

MIAMI GARDENS — Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 1 player in the world and top seed at this week’s Miami Open, was still basking in her championship run at Indian Wells last week in her media session Tuesday morning.

If not for one amazing service return by Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, the third seed here, would have been lifting the championship trophy.

Rybakina, who rose to a career-high No. 2 on Monday, was up 6-5 in the decisive tiebreak and serving for the match and championship. She delivered a booming first serve to Sabalenka, who showed no fear or nerves in crushing her trademark two-handed backhand cross-court for a clean winner. The gutsy return was all the confidence needed by Sabalenka, who won the next two points for the title.

It was particularly courageous of the 27-year-old Belarusian, given that Rybakina is considered one of the best servers on the Tour. The 6-foot Kazakhstan leads the Tour with 148 aces, 36 more than runner-up Clara Tauson. She is second in both percentage of service points won (72.6) and service games won (82.1).

“I just didn’t want to lose a third final in the row against Elena,’’ said Sabalenka, who is 9-7 head-to-head with Rybakina, but 0-2 in their last two matches leading up to Indian Wells.

“And at that moment, I was like, ‘OK, I’m just going to go for it.’ Whatever happens, I just have to take everything in my hands and take the game, even though I was so, so tired. It was so hot and I felt energy-wise I was so low, but that point definitely gave me so much energy and power and definitely confidence to just get the other two points.

“So, yes, that point was probably one of the best points I ever played in my life, especially being like match-point down. So, I’ll just need that short video just to remind myself that I’m really strong.”

Rybakina, 26, a two-time Grand Slam champion and two-time finalist in Miami (2023-24), who’s seeded third here and could meet Sabalenka in a semifinal, took the loss in stride.

“I’m pretty much happy with the whole tournament, except for the final,’’ Rybakina said during her roundtable media session Wednesday. “I had opportunities, and that was a point away from winning a title, but again, great result. We stayed till then, so yeah, just hoping to get here to the very end.

“I think we know each other so well that even, in some moments, we understand where we both are going to serve. So, I wasn’t really surprised with the return, but then the next shot she went for it also and I wasn’t as quick as prepared for the first return. But even after, on the other rally, which was long, I was at the net, and it was also a mistake because the ball was on my racket, and I lost it.

“I won’t say something shocked me during the game. I think I had quite a lot of opportunities, but she’s a great player and it was a very close match. Not much I can say, just hopefully next time it’s going to go my way.”

Rybakina has extra motivation in Miami because she reached the finals twice only to lose in 2023 (Petra Kvitova) and 2024 (Danielle Collins).

“It definitely gives me motivations,’’ she said. “I want to win this tournament at some point, and hopefully it’s going to happen this year. We’ll see, but I will take it easy, a match at a time, since I didn’t even get a chance to practice here.

“So, I don’t know how the feeling is going to be, but I still have a couple of more days .”

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