(Reuters) – World number one Aryna Sabalenka cruised into her first Miami Open final with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Italian sixth seed Jasmine Paolini on Thursday.
Sabalenka won 77% of her first-serve points, fired down six aces, saved all four break points she faced and converted four of her five break point chances during the 71-minute match.
The Belarusian top seed, who resides in South Florida and arrived in Miami fresh off a runner-up finish at Indian Wells, has not dropped a set in her five matches.
Up next for Sabalenka will be the winner of Thursday’s semi-final between American fourth seed Jessica Pegula and Philippine wildcard Alexandra Eala, who is coming off a stunning upset of Polish world number two Iga Swiatek.
On the men’s side, unseeded Czech Jakub Mensik was a 7-6(5) 6-1 winner over 17th-seeded Frenchman Arthur Fils to book a semi-final clash against either Italian 29th seed Matteo Berrettini or American Taylor Fritz.
Six-times champion Novak Djokovic was facing Sebastian Korda in a quarter-final originally scheduled for Wednesday but postponed under ATP rules aimed at avoiding matches dragging on into the early hours of the morning.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
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