Women’s quarterfinal matchups

By Harvey Fialkov / Staff writer

Why Sabalenka: Arguably the best hard-court player on Tour with 20 of her titles on that surface. She won this tournament last year and hasn’t dropped a set in her three previous matches. Coming off a title at Indian Wells and shooting for the Sunshine Double.

Why Baptiste: Late-bloomer features similar power to Sabalenka and loves to aggressively charge the net. She lacks experience in big matches but is playing with confidence and with a nothing-to-lose attitude.

Elena Rybakina (left) and Jessica Pegula (right) have met twice this year and both times the hard-serving Kazak previalled in both the Australian Open and most recently at Indian Wells.

Why Rybakina? She hasn’t dropped a set and hasn’t allowed more than four games in any of them. She’s only been broken once while saving 6-of-7 breakpoints. She leads the Tour in aces.

Why Pegula? She is considered one of the three best hard-court players on Tour, along with Rybakina and Sabalenka. Pegula, a long-time resident of Boca Raton, loves this event, having reached the finals last year and the semis in 2022 and 2023. Rybakina beat her  in the 2023 semis. She has broken Rybakina eight times in their last three meetings. Pegula won Dubai last month.

Head-to-Head: Rybakina leads 5-3 overall; 4-3 on hard courts, including both meetings this year at Indian Wells (QFs) and Australian Open (SFs).