Top seed Sabalenka marches into final in Miami

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka marched into the final of the Miami Open on Thursday with a totally dominant 6-2, 6-2 win over Jasmine Paolini.

The world No 1 hit 36 winners and just 12 unforced errors as she reached the final for the first time, setting up a meeting with either Jessica Pegula, the No 4 seed, or Filipino wildcard Alexandra Eala.

“I definitely say that this was one of the best matches in the season so far,” Sabalenka said after the match. “I was just so focused on myself, on the things I had to do today. It felt like everything was just going smoothly my way. Super happy with the performance.

“I felt like I was in the zone. I think the way that I was able to adjust to different, let’s say, issues of the game, and the way that I was able to fight no matter what, I felt like I’m definitely on a pretty high level right now.”

The Belarusian defeated Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (6-3, 6-0), Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse (6-1, 0-0 ret.), American Danielle Collins, the No 14 seed (6-4, 6-4) and Chinese Qinwen Zheng, the No 9 seed (6-2, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Miami tournament, Paolini, ranked No 7, won against Slovak Rebecca Sramkova (6-4, 6-4), Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the No 31 seed (4-3 ret.), Japanese Naomi Osaka (3-6, 6-4, 6-4) and Pole Magda Linette (6-3, 6-2).

Miami WTA 1000, other semi-final result (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.963.700):

• Jessica Pegula vs. Alexandra Eala