Aryna Sabalenka is a WTA Tour champion once more, having beaten Jessica Pegula in the Miami Open final.
Nick Kyrgios has congratulated Sabalenka on her Miami Open success, after she overcame Pegula 7-5, 6-2.
Sabalenka has predicted more finals with Pegula after their latest clash, which took one hour and 28 minutes.
The Miami Open top seed, Sabalenka now has seven wins from her nine matches against Pegula, who was the fourth seed at the tournament.
And she now boasts 17 hard-court titles from her 19 WTA titles overall, with eight WTA 1000 titles secured.
Aryna Sabalenka impresses herself in Miami Open final win vs Jessica Pegula
An analysis of the latest success was provided by the Belarusian in her winning press conference, where she was asked both if she thought she would have won the first set knowing she would lose her serve three times in it, and about her variety in the 5-6 game in set one.
“Yeah, honestly going into this match, I had the mentality that no matter what happens, if she’s going to break me, I had the mentality to stay there, to focus on myself, to fight for every point no matter what,” said Sabalenka.
“I didn’t want to lose another final, to be honest. It’s really tough to lose in the final. So if someone would say that, I’d be, like, okay, it’s going to be a battle, I’m ready for that.
“Yeah, that game, what was that honestly, it was just another level. I’m super happy that I was able to put everything together and to bring the variety in that game. It was a very important game.
“Yeah, that was just, wow, like I was impressed by myself, honestly. I was, like, I’m so sorry, I don’t know how I made that shot, but it was amazing.”
Aryna Sabalenka reveals celebration plans after Miami Open win
Pegula will undoubtedly be glad to see the back of Sabalenka, who also beat her in last year’s US Open final.
An upset was certainly on the cards in Miami this time around, but the world number one showed her worth and battled through the challenges to come out on top.
Determination and perseverance were on display on the court, but have now come to light in her recent career in general, with Sabalenka having just lost two finals.
Madison Keys beat the Belarusian in this year’s Australian Open final, with Mirra Andreeva beating her at the same stage of Indian Wells earlier this month.
Asked what her plans were post-victory, she replied: “I don’t know. I thought my team will be so excited. But then I saw them, probably they’re so excited, they spent a lot of emotions in the final.
“Today we’re going to chill, but tomorrow I’m going to force them, yeah, to do something, to have drinks, to have… I don’t know, maybe some burgers, pizza, just to have fun.
“I think we should celebrate, because we struggled after those tough finals. We all were kind of, like, depressed.
“I think after this final, we have to celebrate a little bit just to remember the moment, you know. Tequila, yes, of course.
“I didn’t say that. It was just obvious in my head. Yeah, it’s going to be tequila. I’m getting older. Before I would celebrate with some sugar stuff.
“Nowadays it’s alcohol. I hope I’m not going to become alcoholic, but yeah. But if I will, it means that I had a lot of trophies to celebrate. So I can sacrifice that.”
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