World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka showed exactly why she deserves that top ranking Saturday.

Sabalenka completed the Sunshine Double, the first to do so since 2022, with her win over No. 4 American Coco Gauff 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the Miami Open final at Miami Gardens, Fla.

“I haven’t had a moment to stop, look back and realize what’s happened in the past months. I’m so proud of the work we’ve done and the fight I was able to bring on court,” Sabalenka said during the trophy ceremony after the win. “Coco will fight for every opportunity and she played incredibly, but I was mentally strong. I knew I was doing everything right and it was just a matter of a few points.”

Sabalenka is just the 11th player ever to complete the Sunshine Double, when a player wins the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open back-to-back, and just the fifth ever woman to do so. She joins Steffi Graf (1994, 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and Iga Swiatek (2022).

This also the second straight Miami Open championship for Sabalenka, who defended her title by dropping just one set along the way. She’s the first person since Ashleigh Barty in 2019 and 2021 to win back-to-back titles at this event.

Sabalenka came out hot in Saturday’s final, breaking Gauff’s first serve and forcing seven break point opportunities in the first set. Sabalenka rang home two aces to take the first set 6-2. Gauff fought back in the second set and earned the only break of the set to tie it at a set apiece.

But Sabalenka replicated her success in the first set by breaking Gauff’s first serve and raced ahead once again to a 3-1 lead. With the match on the line and Gauff serving once again, Sabalenka needed just one match point to ice the game and secure the title.

Overall, Sabalenka forced 11 break point opportunities and converted on four of them while facing only two herself. She defended her own serve well by winning 35 of her 47 first serve points (74 percent).

Gauff put up a valiant effort but struggled on her serve, being broken four times and conceding seven double faults.

“Aryna congratulations. We’ve had many battles, many finals and, I think you push me to be a better player,” Gauff said. “You’re a great fighter and hopefully we can play many more. I think we will.”

–Field Level Media

Royce Lewis hit a two-run home run and the Minnesota Twins won for the first time under first-year manager Derek Shelton by beating the host Baltimore Orioles 4-1 on Saturday.

Six Minnesota pitchers combined on a five-hitter while striking out 16 batters and walking six.

The Twins prevailed despite managing only four hits – including two by Byron Buxton – with the bats. The outcome came in the second game of the season-opening series.

Anthony Banda (1-0) was the winning pitcher with two-thirds of an inning of relief. Cole Sands worked the ninth and was credited with a save.

The Orioles stranded 11 runners on base. Jeremiah Jackson had two hits for Baltimore.

Minnesota starter Taj Bradley struck out nine in 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits but he was finished after 92 pitches.

Orioles starter Kyle Bradish (0-1) was done after 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits and taking the loss. He walked three and struck out four.

Baltimore scored first on Jackson’s run-scoring single.

Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly tied it in the fourth. When Lewis belted his homer in the fifth, it gave the Twins a lead for the first time this season.

Lewis had 13 home runs last year while playing a career-high 106 games.

Banda entered behind Bradley and notched strikeouts for his two outs and then Kody Funderburk fanned the first two Orioles in the sixth, so it meant that 13 of the first 17 outs recorded by the Twins came via strikeouts.

The Orioles loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth. Eric Orze got Gunnar Henderson on a flyout to end the threat.

The Twins tacked on a run in the seventh on Kody Clemens’ two-out single that drove in Lewis.

Baltimore used five pitchers, registering a total of 10 strikeouts.

The result handed Baltimore’s Craig Albernaz his first loss as a big-league manager.

–Field Level Media

Ta’Niya Latson scored 28 points to help top-seed South Carolina beat fourth-seeded Oklahoma 94-68 in a Sweet 16 matchup Saturday in Sacramento.

Latson set the tone from the start, scoring eight points during the Gamecocks’ 10-0 run to start the game.

South Carolina will take on the winner of Saturday’s TCU-Virginia matchup Monday.

The Gamecocks (34-3) are looking for their sixth consecutive Final Four appearance.

South Carolina lost the regular-season matchup between the teams 94-82 in overtime Jan. 22.

In their NCAA Tournament matchup, though, the Gamecocks never gave the Sooners a chance for any kind of a late push.

Latson helped make sure of that, hitting a jumper on the opening possession, nailing a 3-pointer shortly thereafter, then hitting three free throws after being fouled less than three minutes into the game to put her team up 10-0.

Oklahoma briefly cut the deficit to six, but after the first quarter, South Carolina’s lead never dipped below double figures.

Latson finished 7 of 11 from the floor with five assists. The Gamecocks shot 50.7% from the floor.

Raven Johnson added 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and Tessa Johnson scored 14.

The Sooners (26-8) were led by freshman Aaliyah Chavez, who had 21 points. Oklahoma finished with a season-low nine assists, while South Carolina had 21 on 34 field goals.

–Field Level Media