Sabalenka breezes past Paolini to book Miami final spot

World number one Aryna Sabalenka cruised into her first Miami Open final with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Italian sixth seed Jasmine Paolini on Thursday.

Sabalenka won 77 per cent of her first-serve points, fired down six aces, saved all four break points she faced and converted four of her five break point chances during the 71-minute match.

The Belarusian top seed, who resides in South Florida and arrived in Miami fresh off a runner-up finish at Indian Wells, has not dropped a set in her five matches.

Up next for Sabalenka will be the winner of Thursday's semi-final between American fourth seed Jessica Pegula and Philippine wildcard Alexandra Eala, who is coming off a stunning upset of Polish world number two Iga Swiatek.

On the men's side, unseeded Czech Jakub Mensik was a 7-6(5) 6-1 winner over 17th-seeded Frenchman Arthur Fils to book a semi-final clash against either Italian 29th seed Matteo Berrettini or American Taylor Fritz.

Six-times champion Novak Djokovic was facing Sebastian Korda in a quarter-final originally scheduled for Wednesday but postponed under ATP rules aimed at avoiding matches dragging on into the early hours of the morning.