The Queen seems untouchable..

Elena Rybakina arrives in Florida with the status of a serious title contender, carried by immense confidence after her triumph at the Australian Open and her recent final in Indian Wells. Her performance in her opening match against Yulia Putintseva was a show of quiet dominance: with 9 aces and nearly 85% of points won behind her first serve, the Kazakh proved that her serve remains the most fearsome weapon on the current tour. On the fast courts of Miami, where she already reached the final in 2024, Elena Rybakina seems to have found the perfect conditions to dictate the pace and shorten the rallies, leaving only crumbs to her opponents on her own service games. In a pre-tournament interview, the Queen said that Miami is the perfect tournament for her tennis. No surprise :)

For Marta Kostyuk, this third round looks like a true test of resilience against her current ‘nemesis’. Despite showing great fighting spirit to get past Kamilla Rakhimova, the Ukrainian is dragging weaknesses that could prove fatal against a player of Rybakina’s caliber, notably her 7 double faults and a lingering vulnerability on second serve. Recent history weighs heavily in the balance: convincingly beaten by Elena Rybakina just twelve days ago in Indian Wells, Marta Kostyuk hasn’t taken a single set off the Kazakh in their last three major encounters. To have any hope of pulling off an upset, she will not only have to dial in her serve but also find a tactical solution to counter the firepower of an Elena Rybakina who, for now, seems to be playing on another planet.