Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka are set to do battle in a blockbuster final at the 2026 Miami Open.
Defending champion Sabalenka could become just the fifth woman in history to complete the Sunshine Double, having already won the Indian Wells Open this month.
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Gauff, on the other hand, is bidding to claim her fourth WTA 1000 title, and first of the 2026 season.
The two stars, ranked first and fourth in the world, last faced off at the year-end WTA Finals in 2025, where Sabalenka came out on top.
They will now clash in a final for the fourth time, and former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski thinks the American will have an advantage.
Greg Rusedski previews the 2026 women’s Miami Open final
“The crowd’s going to play a part because there’s an American in the final,” said Rusedski in an episode of ‘Off Court with Greg‘.
“They want to see an American win in Miami, and conditions are slower in Miami than they are in Indian Wells, which favours Coco to defend more.
“When Coco has won her majors, who has she beaten? Sabalenka on both occasions, the US Open and at Roland Garros.
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“So this is going to be a cracking final, and one thing I’d love to see is Coco having a good serving performance.
“If she does that, maybe this is the catalyst where everything falls into place, and the serve starts functioning, because that is the big question mark.
“And we know Sabalenka in finals, she struggles, she gets nervous, she gets tight, she feels expectations. So Sabalenka is the favourite, but she doesn’t always like being the favourite in the final.”
Coco Gauff’s rivalry with Aryna Sabalenka in 2025
Gauff and Sabalenka have played each other 12 times on the WTA Tour, and two of those meetings came in finals during 2025.
They first met last year in the Madrid Open title bout, where Sabalenka came out on top in straight sets.
Later on in the clay season, Gauff and Sabalenka clashed in the Roland Garros final, where the US star triumphed to claim a second major crown.
The head-to-head is currently tied six apiece, with the winner of the Miami Open final set to take the lead in the rivalry.
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