Miami Open WTA Day Seven Round-Up | Belinda Bencic and Elena Rybakina easily through in dominant wins as Aryna Sabalenka, Victoria Mboko and Karolina Muchova shine

The second week of WTA Miami Open action started in some style. Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva and Victoria Mboko were among the names looking to make it to the quarterfinal stage of the WTA 1000 tournament.

It was Victoria Mboko, Belinda Bencic, Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka though who took centre stage with victories on Monday with early brilliance from Mboko, Sabalenka and also Karolina Muchova.While Rybakina and Bencic perhaps in the top ties of the day on paper shone in dominant wins over Talia Gibson and Amanda Anisimova.

It's there where we will start with Talia Gibson being one of the real stories of the last few weeks rising from a player on the fringes of the top 150 to being very likely to be heading towards a seeding position for Roland Garros. Last year saw Eva Lys, Lois Boisson and also Alexandra Eala emerge from nowhere alongside Mboko to have the best years of their careers and have similar ranking rises but this time around it is Gibson who has done so.

Albeit in reaching back-to-back WTA 1000 Last 16's, she came up against an immovable object in Elena Rybakina. Rybakina has often struggled on this court and lost early lost year, she was runner-up in 2023 and 2024 but she was so good today in a beatdown of Gibson 6-2, 6-2 in 65 minutes. While some big names often flatter to deceive, she was at her destructive best. She now plays Jessica Pegula in what will be a real top tie in the Quarter-Finals.

Pegula hasn't managed to have the rub of the green lately against big names but has said a lot this week that it is coming and that she has beaten them before so why not again. Rybakina in top form is the real examination. The American eased past Jaqueline Cristian in a one-sided affair.

Coco Gauff also staved off Sorana Cirstea who won the second set of their tie but down the stretch, the former managed to quell her comeback as well as an interruption for someone collapsing in the stands but while these two won through, another American wasn't so lucky.

That being an even more impressive one-sided beatdown fashioned by Belinda Bencic against Amanda Anisimova. The battle of two of the best backhands on tour was in full display but was more of an exhibition of Bencic's brilliance.

Two of the real comeback stories on tour last season, Bencic lost to Pegula last time out at Indian Wells and has beaten Sonmez and Shnaider here this week without losing a set. Anisimova has been up and down this year but is a hard act to follow after such a good tour return last year.

They were both made to wait by Zverev on the men's side being forced into a third and Bencic was in no mood to stick around. After a protracted few games, she broke for 2-1 and then held for 3-1 before doing so again for 5-2 before holding for the set.

The second was even more one sided again with Anisimova barely getting a foothold on her serve and so much so that Bencic sped into a 4-1 lead and ironically Bencic's serve at 4-1 up being under threat was some of the longest tennis all match. But the strength of the backhand winners from Bencic provided a real tonic to the backhand of Anisimova which itself is a potent weapon.

But after Anisimova had the chance to hit back, Bencic went 5-1 up and had the chance to win there and then but couldn't take it. It mattered not as she breezed through to hold and win the second 6-2.

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka was back in the Quarter-Finals of the Miami Open after earning an eighth win over Zheng Qinwen in nine meetings and she managed to win comfortably 6-3, 6-4.

In the Last Eight, she faces Hailey Baptiste who reached a first WTA 1000 Quarter-Final after downing Jelena Ostapenko. Zheng showed flashes of her former brilliance that she will aim to get back to but when she had any momentum, Sabalenka firmly shut the door.

After racing 3-0 up and then 5-1, Zheng saved three set points to break her while serving for the set. Zheng then held to close the gap to 5-3 but Sabalenka held to seal the opener.

Up a break but facing triple break point, Sabalenka put the pressure on and closed it and saved all three winning five straight points and every time until the match finished, the pressure dial turned up and Sabalenka sought it out as she closed out the match.

Victoria Mboko is also through. A year on from her first main draw win, she is now 10th seed and into a WTA 1000 Quarter-Final again. She saw off Mirra Andreeva in the latest episode of their burgeoning rivalry 7-6, 4-6, 6-0. The two highest ranked teenagers on tour, they have met in Adelaide, Doha and now this week. Mboko doesn't do revenge served cold as she often avenges losses straight away. In particular with Gauff, Rybakina and now Andreeva.

The first 21 games all went with serve and only three of these featured a break point. Mboko won 80% of her first serve point soverall, the first of these down 3-2 in th first set after committing a pair of double faults. She responded and Andreeva staved it off too at 3-3.

The first set was a tie-break and Mboko converted. She was edged out in the second but amid an off court time-out, she continued to struggle and Mboko with the impetus hammered a serve from Andreeva that was falling apart. Mboko made hers more solid and hammered it home.

Karolina Muchova was again ultra impressive as the Doha champion smashed Alexandra Eala 6-0, 6-2 in exactly an hour showing her incredible versatility and range of her game.

She now faces Mboko. This after firing 20 winners against just 11 unforced errors including a brilliant backhand volley in the third game of the match wrong footing her to break for 3-0 and then also the same on match point. Eala was a bit bamboozled and committed 13 unforced errors with only seven winners.

Muchova only conceded six points all of the opening set. Two on serve and four on return and Eala did not get a chance to win a game till the third game of the second set. While Eala continues to improve, it was very much a lesson given by Muchova here. A player continuing to hammer home her great form against a player who continues to gain fans but also needs results to sustain such a push.