Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina will face off in the final of the Indian Wells WTA 1000 event on Sunday. The Belarusian and Kazakh players advanced with straight-sets semifinal victories on Friday.
Sabalenka, the world No. 1, defeated Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4. This marks Sabalenka’s third Indian Wells final in four years. She lost the 2023 final to Rybakina and last year’s final to Mirra Andreeva. The 27-year-old has not dropped a set this week.
Noskova played in her first WTA 1000 semifinal. The conditions with temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius made the court play faster. Sabalenka used her power to good effect. She hit 11 aces to Noskova’s five and recorded 37 winners. She applied repeated pressure to Noskova’s serve.
Sabalenka took the first set with ease. She broke early in the second and held her lead to win in less than 90 minutes.
“I was serving well and playing well,” Sabalenka said. “I like how I was putting pressure on her serve and, of course, I’m happy that I was able to close this match in two sets.”
She expressed interest in facing Rybakina. “If it’s her, honestly, I’m excited,” she said. “I feel like against Elena it’s always super aggressive. Everything is decided in the first few shots of the rally. If you control those first two shots, you’ll most likely win the point.”
Rybakina earned her final spot with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian, 31, had not reached this stage since 2019. Rybakina played her first tournament at the new world No. 2 ranking after Swiatek’s quarterfinal loss.
Svitolina broke Rybakina’s serve first but the Kazakh recovered to take the first set. Rybakina went up 4-0 in the second set. She faced some late pressure but held firm to win and extend her streak to 12 straight victories over top-10 opponents.
Sabalenka leads their head-to-head 8-7. Rybakina has won the previous two finals between them, at Indian Wells in 2023 and the Australian Open this year.
The Sunday final gives Sabalenka the chance to win her first Indian Wells title. Both players deliver powerful tennis that matches the fast conditions at the California event.
On the men’s side, Carlos Alcaraz meets Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner takes on Alexander Zverev in Saturday’s semifinals.
