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Fresh from her Indian Wells triumph over Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, Sabalenka continued her journey to completing the Sunshine Double with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 win against Li.

The No.1 seed asserted her dominance in the opening exchanges and surged into a 4-1 lead after breaking her opponent, but Li responded in style to draw level.

Li came out on top in a mammoth eighth game, which saw her save seven break points, and forced a tie-break which she led at the midway point despite going 3-0 down.

However, the Belarusian regained her composure to eventually take the early advantage, though a topsy-turvy start to the second threatened a deciding set. 

Both players failed to hold their serve in the opening three games, but Sabalenka found her groove, losing just four points on serve to claim her seventh-straight victory.

"I was there, I was fighting no matter what, even though my game probably wasn't the best one that I have," Sabalenka said.

"She played incredible tennis. She was super aggressive, serving incredibly like wow. It was a great match, a great level, and I'm super happy to get this really difficult win."

Sabalenka is hoping to become just the fifth woman to complete the Sunshine Double, and if her performance here was anything to go by, she stands a fantastic chance of putting herself amongst some elite company.

Her victory also ensured that the world No.1 remains undefeated in the opening women's singles matches at Indian Wells and Miami for the first time since the latter tournament's inauguration in 1985, with that record improving to 52-0.

But she may find herself coming up against Rybakina again later down the line. Since the start of the north American hard court swing last July, Rybakina (46) has the most WTA-level match wins of any player, 12 more than the next-best over that span.

And the world No.2 Rybakina claimed her latest victory in her opening-round match in Miami, needing just one hour and 16 minutes to get past compatriot Yulia Putintseva.

Rybakina earned a 6-3 6-3 triumph over Putintseva, but she was put through her paces in the opening set after letting a 3-1 lead slip, although she quickly found her range.

The No.2 seed won the remaining three games of the first to take the early lead before reeling off the final four games of the second set to tee up a clash with Marta Kostyuk.