Elena Rybakina's rough 2025 continues after the world No. 8 bowed out of the Miami Open after only one match played, while Aryna Sabalenka made a dominant start to her campaign.
In the previous two Miami editions, the Kazakh reached the final but on both occasions finished as runner-up. After two very deep runs at the tournament, the 25-year-old suffered her earliest Miami defeat after world No. 40 Ashlyn Krueger handed her a 6-4 2-6 6-4 loss.
In the first and third sets, the American earned one break in each set and that was enough for her to win those sets and ultimately get the job done in three sets.
While Rybakina has had two semifinal and one quarterfinal showings in 2025, she hasn't played her best this season - especially against the top competition. And after Mirra Andreeva demolished her 6-1 6-2 in the Indian Wells round-of-16, the Kazakh failed to bounce back in Miami and picked up a disappointing loss.
Meanwhile, Krueger plays against Leylah Fernandez in the Miami third round.
Rybakina loses but Sabalenka wins
The top-seeded Belarusian, who had a first-round bye, was also in action today. But unlike the Kazakh, the world No. 1 didn't allow any upsets in her opener and destroyed Viktoriya Tomova 6-3 6-0.
After going up by a double break and opening a 5-1 lead, Sabalenka failed to serve out for the first set in the seventh game as Tomova also served out the next game to reduce the deficit to 5-3. That was all from the Bulgarian as the Belarusian won the following seven games to complete her win in style.
Thank you guys for coming. Honestly, I didnt expect it to be this many people watching. I feel so sorry to those who were sitting in the sun," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview.
In her next match, the top seed will meet Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
