MIAMI - Elena Rybakina extended her winning streak to 11 matches as she booked her place in the Miami Open quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Belgium's Elise Mertens.
Rybakina is looking to complete the "Sunshine Double" after her triumph in Indian Wells but she was far from euphoric after her victory.
"Physically I'm not the freshest, but I'm happy that I'm managing and finding my way. To be in a quarter-final is great and hopefully I'm going to play better," she said.
The Kazakh allowed Mertens to break in the sixth game of the first set but then two double faults from the Belgian allowed Rybakina to swiftly break back and then she struck again to take the opening set.
The Wimbledon champion broke early in the second set and never looked back and she will now face Italian Martina Trevisan in the quarters.
Trevisan beat former French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3.
"It's a tricky one, she's lefty so I need to adjust and it's going to be a tough match since we never played each other. I'll try to recover and be more fresh physically," Rybakina said.
All 16 survivors in the tournament were in action on "Manic Monday" at Hard Rock Stadium where the quarter-final line-up will be set.