What you need to know about the Miami Open final

On Saturday, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will face No. 4 Jessica Pegula in the Miami Open final, the fourth WTA 1000 event of the 2025 season.

Miami: Draws | Scores | Order of play

This marks the first Miami final between Top 5 players since Serena Williams defeated Li Na in 2014 — and the winner will become the first player ranked inside the Top 10 to capture a WTA 1000 title or higher this season.

After falling in the finals of the Australian Open and Indian Wells, can Sabalenka capture her first WTA 1000 title of the year? Can Pegula take revenge for losses to Sabalenka in last year’s Cincinnati and US Open finals? Here’s what you need to know about Saturday’s big showdown.

When is the women’s singles final?

The women’s singles final will be played on Saturday, March 29 not before 3 p.m. ET at the Hard Rock Stadium, Miami. The doubles final will be played on Sunday, March 30 at 12.30 p.m.

Miami is on Eastern Daylight Time (GMT -4).

What are the rankings points and prize money at stake?

By making the Indian Wells final, both Sabalenka and Pegula have assured themselves 650 PIF WTA Ranking points and $597,890 in prize money.

Saturday’s champion will take home a total of 1,000 points and $1,124,380.

Sabalenka is guaranteed to remain World No. 1. Pegula can move up to No. 3 if she wins the final.

How did Sabalenka and Pegula get here?

Sabalenka is the sixth player this century to reach both the Indian Wells and Miami finals back-to-back, following Kim Clijsters (2005), Maria Sharapova (2006, 2012, 2013), Victoria Azarenka (2016), Iga Swiatek (2022) and Elena Rybakina (2023). She lost the Indian Wells final to Mirra Andreeva two weeks ago, but has not lost a set — or even been taken to a tiebreak — in Miami so far.

To reach the final, Sabalenka beat Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-0, qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-1, retired, defending champion and No. 14 seed Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-4, No. 9 seed Zheng Qinwen 6-2, 7-5 and No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2.

By contrast, Pegula — who fell in the Indian Wells fourth round to Elina Svitolina — has gone the distance in three of her five matches. She beat qualifier Bernarda Pera 6-4, 6-4, No. 32 seed Anna Kalinskaya 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-6(2), No, 23 seed Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-3, Emma Raducanu 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2 and wild card Alexandra Eala 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3.

Sabalenka has crossed the 90-minute mark just once in Miami — her 1-hour, 36-minute quarterfinal win over Zheng. Pegula, by contrast, has gone the distance in three straight matches, each lasting over two hours, including a 2-hour, 26-minute battle with Eala. In total, Pegula has logged 9 hours and 44 minutes on court, more than four hours longer than Sabalenka’s 5 hours and 43 minutes.

How do they stack up?

Sabalenka leads the head-to-head series 6-2 overall, including 4-2 on hard courts and 2-0 in finals.

The pair first played in the third round of the 2020 Western & Southern Open in New York, where No. 83-ranked qualifier Pegula notched her third Top 20 win over No. 11-ranked Sabalenka 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to make her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.

Their next three meetings were on clay. Sabalenka dropped only 12 games combined to sweep the 2020 Roland Garros first round, the 2021 Madrid third round and the 2022 Rome third round.

Their next two meetings came at the WTA Finals. Fort Worth in 2022 marked the first time they had met when both were in the Top 10, and Sabalenka took it 6-3, 7-5. The following year in Cancun, Pegula snapped her four-match losing streak against Sabalenka with a 6-4, 6-3 revenge.

Their next two — and most recent — meetings came in back-to-back hard-court finals in 2024. Sabalenka won both, taking the Cincinnati title 6-3, 7-5, then edging Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in the US Open final to capture her third Grand Slam trophy.

What milestones are at stake on Sunday?

Sabalenka is playing her fourth final this season. She is bidding for her second title of the year (following Brisbane), 19th overall and 11th at WTA 1000 level or over. Her season record to date is 22-4, with a tour-leading number of match-wins.

Pegula is playing her third final of 2025. She is bidding for her second title of the year (following Austin), eighth overall and fourth at WTA 1000 level. Her season record to date is 20-5.

Pegula will be bidding for her fifth win over a reigning World No. 1. The last of those — over Iga Swiatek in the 2024 US Open quarterfinals — is also Pegula’s most recent Top 10 win. If Pegula, 31, defeats Sabalenka, she will become the oldest player to beat the World No. 1 in a final since a 36-year-old Martina Navratilova defeated Monica Seles at Paris 1993.

Sabalenka will be bidding to score three Top 10 wins in a single tournament for the second time in her career, following the 2022 WTA Finals Fort Worth.

What are they saying?

Pegula: “I think she’s just a little bit better than me, results-wise, winning Australia, winning US Open, beating me Cincy, US Open.

“It’s going to be tough. Hopefully I can get the better of her here. That would be awesome. But, you know, I’m also really proud that I can put myself up there with one of the best hard court players in the world. Making another final of a 1000 is huge.”

Sabalenka: “We had a lot of tough matches against each other. It’s always great battles. Cincinnati was a great level for me, but maybe not really from her. And then [the US Open] final was just like crazy match again. Yeah, she fought really hard in that second set, and that was tough match.”

Pegula: “I do feel like I’m serving a little bit better. Hopefully I can serve well Saturday. I think that’s something you have to do against her. She returns really well.

“I have been returning well, so I always feel like even though she’s one of the best servers in the world, I can give myself a chance maybe to break her. But she’s tough. She’s playing with a lot of confidence. She likes, I think, a little bit quicker hard court as well, playing one-two punch, playing an aggressive game.

“I had chances at the US Open, up 5-3 in that second set. Who knows what would have happened there. I definitely know I’ll get some chances if I play some good tennis.”

Sabalenka: “I don’t want to talk like that, that I do something better than her, but I think maybe — I don’t know. She’s a great player.

“It’s, like, if we think about serve or groundstrokes or even volleys … everyone can play great shots. I think it’s all about mental part of the game. Maybe mentally in some of the moments I’m a bit tougher than her. But also, you cannot say that, ‘OK, I’m just tougher than her, that’s it, that’s done,’ you know?

“You have to bring that mental toughness every time.”