World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka won 10 of the last 12 games in dispatching Caty McNally 6-4, 6-2 in one hour, 25 minutes in a third-round match on Sunday night at the Miami Open.

Sabalenka of Belarus, coming off the BNP Paribas Open championship at Indian Wells, Calif., is defending her title in Miami Gardens, Fla.

It wasn’t all that easy, as Sabalenka blew a 4-2 lead in the first set for 4-4, then needed six deuces to hold serve — despite a 15-30 start — before breaking McNally’s serve for the third time to win the set.

Sabalenka converted 5 of 8 break points in the match, to 2 of 3 for McNally, and won 67.4% of her first serve points (29 of 43), to 55.3% (21 of 38) for her American opponent.

Next up for Sabalenka is No. 23 Qinwen Zheng of China, who had a much tougher match in beating 15th-seeded Madison Keys of the United States 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours, 17 minutes.

“The ball was just like a bomb for me at the beginning,” Zheng said of the early going against Keys. “I couldn’t react. I haven’t had this speed of match in a long time.”

Zheng would catch up, finishing with 31 winners — 23 in the last two sets — to Keys’ 15. Zheng had more aces (11-4) and fewer double faults (3-5). She converted four of 13 break-point opportunities, but Keys succeeded on just 2 of 12.

Sabalenka won the first six meetings against Zheng, who won two of the next three of nine total.

“I’ll focus on myself. I’ll focus on my game. I’ll try to stay focused from the first point ‘til the last,” Sabalenka said of playing Zheng. “She’s an incredible player. We played a lot of matches. I have a good record against her, but it doesn’t say anything. It’s always tough battles. I’m always looking forward to play her. It’s always a fight and I really enjoy it.”

Third-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan defeated No. 27 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4. No. 5 Jessica Pegula downed No. 26 Leah Fernandez of Canada 6-2, 6-2.

Other high seeds didn’t make it out of the round. No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy was knocked out by No. 25 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. No. 9 Elina Svitolina of Ukaine fell to American Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 7-5. No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia was eliminated by No. 34 Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5).

Australia’s Talia Gibson, coming off of a quarterfinal run at Indian Wells where she earned her first three top-20 wins, notched her fifth on Sunday. Gibson, who beat Naomi Osaka in straight sets on Saturday, downed 18th-seeded Iva Jovic of the United States 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday.

Gibson did not face a break point while converting four of eight.

–Field Level Media

In mid-January, the Ottawa Senators were in the initial stages of their bid to return to playoff contention when they scored eight goals in a game against the New York Rangers.

In the midst of a competitive Eastern Conference playoff chase, the Senators will return to the site of their most prolific offensive performance of the season when they visit the Rangers on Monday night.

Ottawa (36-24-9, 81 points) endured a 2-6-1 stretch from Dec. 23 to Jan. 10, and the rough patch left them seven points out of the second-wild card spot.

The Senators, however, swept a back-to-back set by rolling to a six-goal lead and an 8-4 victory against the Rangers on Jan. 14. It was the second win in Ottawa’s current 16-5-4 stretch.

Even with the improvement, Ottawa is four points behind the conference’s second wild-card team, the New York Islanders, entering its 70th game. The Senators are attempting to win three straight games for the third time in their surge after following Thursday’s 3-2 home victory over the Islanders with a 5-2 triumph over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

The Senators scored the first three goals and set a season high with 43 shots on goal.

“It was a massive win,” said Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle, who scored his 32nd goal of the season and 13th in a barrage that began with a tally against the Rangers.

“Nobody underestimated them. We came out hard, and we didn’t really like the first 10 minutes, then we just settled in. There was a lot to like about our game.

The Senators had 11 players produce at least one point on Saturday.

“It was a great game,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “We stuck with it and didn’t change. The first period was choppy, and I felt like there wasn’t a lot of flow to our game. I really like how we got our game in the second period and didn’t change the rest of the way.”

New York (28-33-9, 65 points) is using several younger players in its lineup, including Tye Kartye and goalie Dylan Garand. Kartye scored a goal and Garand made 35 saves in his NHL debut in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets, a result that sent the Rangers to their fourth straight loss.

Garand was called up because backup goalie Jonathan Quick has an upper-body injury for the Rangers, who likely will start Igor Shesterkin on Monday. Shesterkin was a week into his injury when the Senators dominated the previous meeting.

Mika Zibanejad continued to be a bright spot for the Rangers by scoring a power-play goal Sunday. He enters his 1,000th career game after getting his 30th goal, marking the former Senators’ first-round pick’s fourth 30-goal season with the Rangers and first since 2022-23.

“I think Mika has been arguably our best forward all year,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “Not just with how he’s scoring goals, but with how he’s playing the game. As far as his goal-scoring ability, I think it’s on display every night. The puck comes off his stick differently than most, the way he shoots the puck, and that for me, is a sign of a true goal-scorer.”

–Field Level Media

In an encouraging development for the rebuilding Utah Jazz, rookie Ace Bailey’s defense quickly is catching up to his impressive offensive game.

Bailey will look to continue his growth when the Jazz face the Toronto Raptors on Monday night in Salt Lake City.

Toronto (39-31) is in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, while Utah (21-50) has been eliminated from playoff contention in the West and has lost five of its last six games.

The Jazz knew all about Bailey’s offensive upside when they selected the talented wing with the fifth overall pick in 2025 NBA Draft, out of Rutgers.

In recent weeks, the 6-foot-9 Bailey has starred on both ends of the court.

One game after scoring a career-high 33 points against the Milwaukee Bucks, Bailey had 25 points, seven rebounds and a season-high five blocks in a 126-116 home loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.

Bailey became the second-youngest player in NBA history to score 25-plus points with five or more blocks in a game. Kevin Durant is the only player younger than Bailey to achieve the feat.

Jazz coach Will Hardy continues to be pleased with Bailey’s all-around play. Bailey has averaged 19.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists in his last nine games while shooting 45.7% from the field and 40.7% from 3-point range.

“Ace is an incredible athlete, and it’s not just offensively,” Hardy said of Bailey, who is averaging 13.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for the season. “Like, his ability to cover ground and close out his ability to guard the ball. I truly believe that he’s grown more on the defensive side of the ball than he has offensively.”

Bailey said defense has been a primary focus during his rookie campaign.

“With the team we’re looking to have, being a defender, it’s gonna be a very big role, especially if you wanna stay on the court. And if you wanna win, you’ve got to, and I want to win, so I have to play offense and defense,” Bailey said.

Utah is looking to avenge an 107-100 road loss to Toronto on Feb. 1.

The Jazz could use another strong outing from guard Kennedy Chandler, who scored a career-high 19 points in his team debut on Saturday after being signed to a 10-day contract.

The Raptors, meanwhile, will play the second night of a back-to-back set after losing 120-98 to the host Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

Scottie Barnes scored 17 points for Toronto, which trailed by as many as 31 points and never led in the contest. Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said he was baffled by his team’s lack of competitiveness.

“I wish I knew the answer to that one,” Rajakovic said. “I tried everything. I tried encouraging. I tried not encouraging. I tried a lot of things, and we failed. We did not have it tonight.”

Brandon Ingram was held to six points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field after averaging 25.8 points over his last five games, but Rajakovic said after the game that there was plenty of blame to go around.

“It’s a whole team. It cannot be just one player. We win as a team, we lose as a team. We never want to point out a player,” Rajakovic said. “I thought that our whole team did have enough urgency for the game, and enough respect for our opponent (Sunday).”

Toronto hopes to have forward Collin Murray-Boyles available as soon as Monday. The promising rookie has missed the past 11 games with a left thumb sprain.

–Field Level Media