Fast and furious Sabalenka powers past Bouzkova in Miami

Aryna Sabalenka struggled with a left thigh injury during her first victory at Miami (over Shelby Rogers), so it was natural to think that she might have a tough time against Czech Marie Bouzkova in third-round action on Sunday.

Au contraire…

Sabalenka put forth a breathtaking display of power tennis, hammering past the Czech 6-1, 6-2 to reach the last 16 of the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night.

After the win Sabalenka said she wanted to keep points short, no doubt to preserve the status of her leg, which she seemed to be shaking out on several occasions during the match.

“I’m supper happy with the level today,” Sabalenka said. “She’s a great player and I didn’t want to play so many rallies, so I was trying to go for big shots – lucky me, it works.”

Sabalenka clocked 26 winners against just six for Bouzkova as she improved to 19-2 on the season.

The world No 2 will enjoy a rematch of last week’s Indian Wells quarter-finals (won by Sabalenka in three sets) with Czech Barbora Krejcikova, the No 16 seed, next.

Miami WTA 1000, other third-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000, most recent results first):

• Barbora Krejcikova beat Madison Keys (19): 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Petra Kvitova (15) beat Donna Vekic (22): 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (18) beat Belinda Bencic (9): 7-6 (8), 6-3
• Sorana Cirstea beat Karolina Muchova (Q): 7-5, 6-1
• Bianca Andreescu beat Sofia Kenin: 6-4, 6-4
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Karolina Pliskova (17): 6-1, 6-2
• Varvara Gracheva (Q) beat Magdalena Frech (LL): 6-1, 6-2
• Elise Mertens beat Petra Martic (29): 6-4, 6-3
• Elena Rybakina (10) beat Paula Badosa (21): 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Martina Trevisan (25) beat Claire Liu: 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Danielle Collins (30): 6-1, 7-6
• Magda Linette (20) beat Victoria Azarenka (14): 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4
• Anastasia Potapova (27) beat Coco Gauff (6): 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2
• Qinwen Zheng (23) beat Liudmila Samsonova (12): 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Jelena Ostapenko (24) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (13): 6-2, 4-6, 6-3