Sabalenka shakes off injury and Rogers to book spot in third round in Miami

Aryna Sabalenka looked like she might be in trouble on Friday night as she battled with American Shelby Rogers at the Miami Open.

The world No 2 had to see the trainer after the first game of the second set, as she struggled with some type of injury to her left thigh. Not long after she found herself down 3-1 and in danger of having to test the injured leg in a third set.

Not so fast.

Sabalenka reeled off 17 consecutive points to go from 1-3, 30-15 to 5-3, 40-0, then turned the lights out on Rogers two points later to lock down the 6-4, 6-3 victory at the Hard Rock Stadium on Friday night.

Sabalenka – something happened in the second set

“I don’t know, something happened in the second set,” Sabalenka said after the match. “We’ll see tomorrow, hopefully I’ll be alright and I’ll be ready for the next match.”

The injury couldn’t keep Sabalenka from continuing her winning ways in 2023. She improves to 18-2 on the season and 4-0 lifetime against Rogers with the win.

Sabalenka, ranked No 2, will play Czech Marie Bouzkova, the No 31 seed, next.

In the previous round of the Miami tournament, Rogers, ranked No 42, won against Sloane Stephens (6-4, 3-6, 6-2).

Miami WTA 1000, other second-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000, most recent results first):

• Magdalena Frech vs. Erika Andreeva: friday
• Belinda Bencic (9) beat Leylah Fernandez: 6-1, 6-1
• Donna Vekic (22) beat Madison Brengle: 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Petra Kvitova (15) beat Linda Noskova: 6-3, 6-0
• Sorana Cirstea beat Caroline Garcia (5): 6-2, 6-3
• Sofia Kenin beat Anhelina Kalinina (28): 6-3, 6-4
• Madison Keys (19) beat Robin Montgomery (WC): 6-4, 6-4
• Barbora Krejcikova (16) beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich: 6-3, 6-2
• Varvara Gracheva (Q) beat Ons Jabeur (4): 6-2, 6-2
• Marie Bouzkova beat Anna Blinkova: 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Veronika Kudermetova (11): 6-4, 6-2
• Bianca Andreescu beat Maria Sakkari (7): 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
• Karolina Pliskova (17) beat Xinyu Wang: 6-2, 6-4
• Karolina Muchova (Q) beat Lin Zhu (32): 6-4, 6-2
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (18) beat Taylor Townsend: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Elena Rybakina (10) beat Anna Kalinskaya: 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
• Victoria Azarenka (14) beat Camila Giorgi: 6-3, 6-1
• Martina Trevisan (25) beat Nao Hibino (Q): 6-4, 6-3
• Magda Linette (20) beat Evgeniya Rodina: 6-3, 6-4
• Claire Liu beat Julia Grabher (LL): 6-4, 6-3
• Coco Gauff (6) beat Rebecca Marino: 6-4, 6-3
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (13) beat Tereza Martincova (Q): 7-6 (4), 0-6, 6-0
• Jelena Ostapenko (24) beat Mirjam Bjorklund (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Anastasia Potapova (27) beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-1, 6-3
• Liudmila Samsonova (12) beat Viktorija Golubic (Q): 6-1, 6-1
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Katherine Sebov (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Danielle Collins (30) beat Viktoriya Tomova (LL): 7-6 (3), 6-2
• Petra Martic (29) beat Xiyu Wang: 6-3, 6-3
• Qinwen Zheng (23) beat Irina-Camelia Begu: 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
• Elise Mertens beat Daria Kasatkina (8): 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
• Paula Badosa (21) beat Laura Siegemund (Q): 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-2