After losing to Elena Rybakina in the Indian Wells championship match, Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the third round of the Miami Open by defeating Shelby Rogers in straight sets. She will now compete against Marie Bouzkova for a spot in Florida’s fourth round of the competition.
The Belarusian tennis player and the fans were both drawn to a peculiar incident that occurred during the game. In the middle of the serve, she stopped playing after hitting the ball because she noticed something odd on her racket. She noticed a dragonfly on her stringbed as she turned the tool over and looked at it! Sabalenka had struck the insect that was still fastened to the racket at the time. Sabalenka approached the dugout and demonstrated everything to the ball boy.
Here is the video.
Quite extraordinary 🪲@SabalenkaA | #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/VJzLZHzzJh
— wta (@WTA) March 24, 2023
Sabalenka in Miami, ranking, and results in 2023
At the moment ranked no.2 (career-high), the Belarussian achieved a compiled 18-2 win-loss record in 2023. Sabalenka is now competing in Miami where she beat the world no.42 Shelby Rogers 6-4 6-3.
Aryna Sabalenka will compete against the world no.36 Marie Bouzkova in the 3rd round on Sunday at 7:00 pm on STADIUM. They have never played each other as of now on the main tour.
Aryna has won 2 titles in 2023 in Adelaide and Australian Open. The Belarussian was the finalist in Indian Wells (BNP Paribas Open).
The Belarussian won 12 titles in her career: 9 on hard courts, 1 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
Shelby Rogers in 2023
Ranked no.42, the American played her last match on the 24th of March when she lost to world no.2 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 6-3 in the 2nd round in Miami (draw).
At the moment, during this season the American has an overall 11-8 win-loss record.
Aryna Sabalenka and Shelby Rogers faced off 4 times. The head to head is 4-0 for Sabalenka. The last time they played each other, Aryna Sabalenka won 6-4 6-3 in the 2nd round in Miami (Miami Open) on the 24th of March 2023.
You can see them in action in the following highlights.