MIAMI: Aryna Sabal­enka won her second strai­ght Miami Open title on Sunday beating Coco Gauff 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to complete a “Sunshine Double” Indian Wells-Miami sweep.

The world number one from Belarus, fresh off her first triumph in the California desert, became the fifth woman — and the first since Iga Swiatek in 2022 — to win both of the elite early season hardcourt WTA 1000 titles.

“It means a lot,” Saba­lenka said after joining Poland’s Swiatek, German great Steffi Graf, Belgian Kim Clijsters and fellow Belarusian Victoria Azar­e­nka on the list of women to win both titles in the same year.

“My goal always been to put my name in the history, and I just did it.”

Sabalenka underscored her WTA dominance in a season in which her only defeat to date was her Australian Open finals loss to Elena Rybakina — who she went on to beat in the Indian Wells title match and in the semi-finals here.

She handed Gauff her first career defeat in a hardcourt final.

The American had won her first nine, including a triumph over Sabalenka in the 2023 US Open championship match.

Gauff had also beaten the Belarusian for the title on the red clay of Roland Garros last year.

So Sabalenka said she wasn’t surprised to see Gau­ff dig in, even after the Belarusian pocketed the first set with a ruthless display of power and precision.

She broke Gauff to open the match and, after Gauff saved three break points in a gritty fifth game, broke the American again in the seventh before serving it out in 37 minutes without facing a break point herself.

In a tense second set, Gauff’s first break point chance — from a blistering backhand passing winner in the second game — sparked a jubilant reaction from the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins that is just about an hour away from Gauff’s Delray Beach home.

But Gauff couldn’t convert, slamming a forehand into the net on the next point as Sabalenka held.

It needed another gutsy hold from Gauff to keep it on serve in the fifth game.

Up 40-0, she wasted three game points with a pair of errors off the gro­und and a double fault then had to save a break point before taking the game.

But Gauff was finding more depth on her returns and broke Sabalenka for the first time to take the second set.

“I knew that she’s going to try her very best to fight in this match,” Sabalenka said. “I was just trying to keep a positive mindset going into the third set. I’m super happy how well I handled my emotions how well I stayed focused from the very beginning to the very end.”

And the third set, again, was virtually all Sabalenka.

She broke to open the final frame and broke again when Gauff sailed a backhand long on Sabal­enka’s first match point.

“What a month,” said Sabalenka, who along with two prestigious titles acquired a new puppy and got engaged to boyfriend Georgios Frangulis.

Gauff was also feeling grateful after a rocky Ma­­rch that saw her withdraw from her third-round match at Indian Wells with a nerve issue that caused “scary” pain in her left arm.

She had said after a dominant semi-final win over Karolina Muchova that she was making progress with the inconsistencies in her serve and forehand, although seven double faults hurt her cause against Sabalenka.

And after considering skipping the event, the 22-year-old was thrilled to reach the final for the first time.

“I feel like I’m nowhere near my peak of my tennis, so I think it gives me comfort a little bit playing these tournaments and having great results,” she said.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2026

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LAHORE: Impressive half-centuries by Shamyl Hussain and Hasan Nawaz and Abrar Ahmad’s fine show with the leather guided Quetta Gladiators to a facile 40-run victory over Hyderabad Kingsmen in their HBL Pakistan Super League match here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday.

This was Gladiators’ first victory of the season after they lost their opening game against Kara­chi Kings on Friday while Kings­men suffered their second successive defeat after being routed by defending champions Lahore Qalandars in the PSL 11 opener.

Player-of-the-match Shamyl and Hasan lifted Gladiators to a respectable 174-8 after skipper Saud Shakeel elected to bat first.

Kingsmen crumbled in the chase and were restricted to a paltry 134-8 off 20 overs thanks to mystery spinner Abrar, who snared three wickets for 23 runs. Medium-pacer Ahmad Daniyal also fared well picking up two wickets for just 13 runs.

Kingsmen’s chase got off to a disastrous start as Saim Ayub (eight) departed in the first over after getting caught by wicket-keeper Ben McDermott off pacer Alzarri Joseph.

Saim was followed by fellow opener Maaz Sadaqat, who was caught for nought by Shamyl off Abrar in the second over as the Marnus Labuschagne-led team slumped to 17-2. After losing the openers, Kingsmen never recovered despite fighting cameos by Irfan Khan and Hassan Khan later in the innings.

Usman Khan (14 off 18) nicked the ball to McDermott in the sixth over, giving Abrar his second wicket as Kingsmen ended powerplay at a feeble 37-3. Just two balls after they reached 50 off 8.4 overs, Lab­u­schagne’s brigade lost Saad Ali as he failed to clear the long-on boundary to get caught by Joseph off the bowling of off-spinner Us­m­an Tariq. They were now 51-4.

Labuschagne’s cautious stay of 23 off 21 ended in the next over wh­en he fell to occasional slow left-arm orthodox spinner Saud as Kingsmen descended to 57-5.

Irfan (33 off 25) and Hassan (31 off 19) combined to make an effort as they added 48 runs for the sixth wicket and in the process got past 100 in 14 overs.

McDermott’s superb grab down the leg-side off Ahmed sent Hassan back to the hut as Kings­men required 70 off the final five overs. The tough ask became tougher when Irfan was stumped by McDermott in the 18th over bowled by Abrar as the scoreboard read 129-7.

When Hammad Azam (six) was caught by Hasan at deep mid-wicket off Ahmed’s slower ball in the 19th over, all hopes of Kingsmen ended.

Usman finished with 1-26 while Joseph had 1-39.

Earlier, entertaining knocks by Shamyl (54 off 41 balls) and Hasan (53 off 40) helped Gladiat­ors post a fighting total that pro­ved more than enough in the end.

The loss of two key wickets of Saud (four) and Rilee Rossouw (0), both to pacer Riley Meredith, left Gladiators reeling at 25-2 in the fourth over.

However, a superb 89-run partnership between Shamyl and Has­an, who struck two fours and three sixes, off just 43 balls steadied the innings. They in the process first moved to 45-2 in powerplay and then reached 100 in 11.4 overs.

When Shamyl, who smashed three fours and as many sixes, was caught by Saim at sweeper cover off Meredith, it triggered a mini batting collapse that redu­ced Gladiators from a commanding 114-3 in the 14th over to 128-6 in the 16th as off-spinner Mahe­esh Theekshana trapped Khaw­aja Nafay (six) and McDermott (zero) off successive deliveries in the 15th over and then Hasan’s run-out in the 16th over due to a terrible mix-up with Tom Curran dented Gladiators’ cause further.

Curran contributed a precious 18-ball 31 — laced with three sixes and a four — to give respectability to the total before he and Joseph (zero) were dismissed by pacer Akif Javed in the final over of the innings.

Meredith claimed three wickets for 38 runs, Theekshana took two for 24 while Akif ended with figures of 2-25 in two overs. Has­s­an (0-40) and Labuschagne (0-19 in two overs) remained expensive.

Scoreboard

QUETTA GLADIATORS:

Saud Shakeel c Hammad b Meredith 4

Shamyl Hussain c Saim b Meredith 54

R. Rossouw c Labuschagne b Meredith 0

Hasan Nawaz run out (Saad) 53

Khawaja Nafay lbw b Theekshana 6

B. McDermott lbw b Theekshana 0

T. Curran c Saim b Akif 31

Ahmed Daniyal not out 6

A. Joseph c Hassan b Akif 0

Abrar Ahmed not out 9

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, NB-5, W-4) 11

TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 174

DID NOT BAT: Usman Tariq

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-21 (Saudl), 2-25 (Rossouw), 3-114 (Shamyl), 4-121 (Nafay), 5-121 (McDermott), 6-128 (Hasan), 7-165 (Curran), 8-165 (Joseph)

BOWLING: Theekshana 4-0-24-2, Meredith 4-0-38-3 (2w, 1nb), Saim 4-0-26-0 (1nb), Akif 2-0-25-2 (1nb), Labuschagne 2-0-19-0 (1w, 1nb), Hassan 4-0-40-0 (1w, 1nb)

HYDERABAD KINGSMEN:

Saim Ayub c McDermott b Joseph 8

Maaz Sadaqat c Shamyl b Abrar 0

M. Labuschagne c Shamyl b Saud 23

Usman Khan c McDermott b Abrar 14

Saad Ali c Joseph b Usman 7

Irfan Khan st McDermott b Abrar 33

Hassan Khan c McDermott b Ahmed 31

Hammad Azam c Hasan b Ahmed 6

M. Theekshana not out 2

R. Meredith not out 3

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-5) 7

TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 134

DID NOT BAT: Akif Javed

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 (Saim), 2-17 (Maaz), 3-35 (Usman), 4-51 (Saad), 5-57 (Labuschagne), 6-105 (Hassan), 7-129 (Irfan), 8-129 (Hammad)

BOWLING: Joseph 4-0-39-1 (1w), Abrar 4-0-23-3 (1w), Ahmed 4-0-13-2 (1w), Curran 3-0-21-0 (1w), Usman 4-0-26-1 (1w), Saud 1-0-10-1

RESULT: Quetta Gladiators won by 40 runs.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shamyl Hussain

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2026

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Lahore Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Operations) Muhammad Faisal brought to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) chief executive officer’s notice on Sunday the alleged breach of security protocols involving Lahore Qalandar players Sikandar Raza and Shaheen Shah Afridi and urged necessary action to prevent the recurrence of such violations.

The Zimbabwe all-rounder is among several overseas players who arrived in Lahore to join their franchises for the 11th edition of the PSL.

In his letter, the Lahore DIG said, “As per the contents of the report of the superintendent of police (operations), Civil Lines Division, Lahore, a serious breach of established security protocols occurred on March 28, 2026 at the PC hotel where all PSL participant teams are currently residing under strict security arrangements.”

The letter said that at approximately 10:35pm, the Lahore Qalandars liaison officer approached Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Security and Anti-Corruption Manager Lt Col (retd) Akhtar Hussain, seeking his permission to allow four relatives of Sikandar Raza to visit his room.

“The request was declined in accordance with the security protocols in place,” the letter said.

Subsequently, Sameen Rana, the owner of Lahore Qalandars, also approached the PSL CEO with the same request, but his request was also declined on security grounds, the letter said.

“Despite these clear instructions, at approximately 11:05pm, it was reported by PCB security staff that Lahore Qalandar’s captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sikandar Raza disregarded the directives and forcefully escorted” the four visitors to Sikandar’s room “despite resistance from on-duty security personnel”, the letter alleged.

“The visitors remained in the room until approximately 1:25am,” it claimed.

The letter said that this incident represented a “clear violation” of the PCB’s security protocols and code of conduct, which were designed to ensure the safety and integrity of all players, officials, and associated personnel.

“In view of the seriousness of this matter, it is requested that the incident be reviewed at the appropriate forum and necessary action be taken to prevent recurrence of such violations,” the letter said.

It emphasised that ensuring strict compliance with security protocols was essential to avoid any untoward or potentially harmful situations.

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