Aryna Sabalenka becomes first woman to 20 wins this year with victory over Krejcikova in Miami

A dialed-in Aryna Sabalenka put on a show for the fans at the Miami Open on Monday night, ripping almost twice as many winners as unforced errors—23 to 12—en route to a dominant 6-3, 6-2 fourth-round victory over Barbora Krejcikova at the WTA 1000 event.

“I’m super happy with the level, especially against a player like Barbora,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “She’s a great player, and it’s always tough matches against her. I’m super happy I was able to bring this level and finish this match in two sets.”

Sabalenka is now the first woman to win 20 matches this year:

MOST MATCH WINS IN 2023 (women, tour-level)
20: Aryna Sabalenka
19: Elena Rybakina
18: Jessica Pegula
17: Caroline Garcia
16: Iga Swiatek, Belinda Bencic

Sabalenka and Krejcikova have had some very tight match-ups over the last several weeks—Krejcikova rallied from a first-set bagel to win in the quarterfinals of Dubai, 0-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1, while Sabalenka got her revenge in the fourth round of Indian Wells, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

And things started off relatively close in Miami after five straight holds to start the match, but Sabalenka drew first blood with a break for 4-2 and eventually rode that break to the first set, and then—after Krejcikova held to open the second set—the Belarusian won the next five games in a row for a commanding 5-1 lead in the second set.

Krejcikova held one last time, then Sabalenka served it out.

In their last two meetings, Sabalenka dropped the second set after winning the first set—this time, the world No. 2 slammed the trunk.

“Every time in the second set I would get crazy on court, like start talking to myself,” she said of their last two tussles. “Today I tried to stay focused, no matter what keep doing my thing, keep focusing on myself.”

She’s now through to the quarterfinals of Miami for the second time, having also gotten this far in 2021, when she fell to Ashleigh Barty.

Awaiting her in the last eight this year will Sorana Cirstea, who took out the No. 5 seed, Caroline Garcia, earlier in the week.

“We’ve never played each other but we practiced once in this pre-season in Dubai, so I played a little bit against her,” Sabalenka said. “She’s doing well, really well, playing great tennis against top players, beating Caroline a couple of times. I saw her matches.

"It’s going to be a great battle, and she’s doing well, playing aggressive tennis, serving well, hitting the ball quite clean.

"I'm really looking forward for this match.”