Elina Svitolina becomes first player to win 20 matches this year with opening victory in Miami

World No. 8 Elina Svitolina has gotten her Miami Open campaign off to a winning start with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Australian wild card Emerson Jones at the WTA 1000 event on Friday night.

And nobody’s done more winning than Svitolina this year, as the Ukrainian’s latest victory made her the first player to win 20 tour-level matches in 2026, on either the women's or the men's tour.

She’s now 20-4 on the year, which is actually two wins ahead of any other player—Daniil Medvedev is next on the list with 18, with Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina both going for their 18th tonight.

2026 WIN LEADERS (men and women, tour-level):

• 20: Elina Svitolina [20-4]
• 18: Daniil Medvedev [18-4]
• 17: Aryna Sabalenka [17-1] (playing tonight)
• 17: Elena Rybakina [17-4] (playing tonight)
• 17: Victoria Mboko [17-5]
• 16: Carlos Alcaraz [16-1] (playing tonight)
• 16: Jessica Pegula [16-3]
• 15: Karolina Muchova [15-3]

Svitolina was in control from start to finish against Jones on Friday night, blasting nine aces and saving the only break point she faced all match en route to a 69-minute win over the young Australian. She even finished it off in style with a big inside-out forehand winner.

And that’s been the story of Svitolina’s season, as her increasingly aggressive game has made her one of the hottest players on tour.

She reached the semifinals or better at four of the five events she played this year prior to Miami, highlighted by winning her 19th WTA title in Auckland, another final at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai (where she fell to Jessica Pegula) and two more semifinals at the Australian Open and Indian Wells (falling both times to Aryna Sabalenka).

Her only early loss came in Doha, and it wasn’t even that early, falling to Anna Kalinskaya in the round of 16 at that tournament.

Having begun the season ranked No. 13, Svitolina—a former No. 3—is already up to No. 8, her highest ranking since coming back to the tour as a mom in 2023. She could potentially go as high as No. 7 depending on how she does over the next week and a half in Miami.

Awaiting the No. 9-seeded Svitolina in the third round in Miami will be unseeded American Hailey Baptiste, who pulled off a 6-3, 7-5 surprise against No. 19-seeded Liudmila Samsonova earlier Friday.

Svitolina won the pair's only previous meeting but it could have gone either way, prevailing 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on the clay of Rome last year.