Aryna Sabalenka will face Elena Rybakina in the final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells – a rematch of their Australian Open final.
Sabalenka romped into her third Indian Wells final in four years after dispatching Linda Noskova in straight sets.
Sabalenka, who won the Brisbane International in January before losing the Australian Open final to Rybakina later that month, is now looking to claim a first title at this event after runners-up finishes to Mirra Andreeva in 2025 and Rybakina in 2023.
In the semi-final Sabalenka quickly picked up a break to go 3-1 up after Noskova hit a forehand too long. The Czech’s wayward serving let Sabalenka stretch to a healthy 5-1 lead.
Noskova did break back when Sabalenka was serving for the set. That was only the second time Sabalenka had lost a service game at this tournament.
Sabalenka promptly secured the first set and racked up another break at the start of the second set to advance with a 6-3 6-4 victory.
Elena Rybakina will meet Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final (Associated Press)
The only sets Sabalenka has dropped across three tournaments this year came in her 6-4 4-6 6-4 defeat to Rybakina in Melbourne.
This week at Indian Wells, her straight-sets wins have included 6-2 6-4 versus fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and 7-6 (7-0) 6-4 over rising star Victoria Mboko.
Sabalenka had too much for 14th seed Noskova on Friday as she reached her 14th WTA 1000 final and first since she beat Coco Gauff to win the Madrid Open in May 2025.
“It feels great, I’ve lost a couple of finals here, so I’ll make sure that I’m more than ready on Sunday. I’ll bring my best tennis and this is the year,” Sabalenka said.
The world No 1 will face Rybakina in Sunday’s showpiece in California, live on Sky Sports Tennis.
“I’m going to fight as much as I can,” Rybakina said. “Hopefully it’s going to be a great match.”
Rybakina has inflicted Sabalenka’s only two defeats since August including that victory in Melbourne. The Kazakh beat ninth seed Elina Svitolina 7-5 6-4 in their semi-final at Indian Wells.
The first set was a tight affair, the players swapping early breaks before the world No 3 – who will rise to No 2 in the updated rankings – grabbed the decisive break in the 11th game.
Rybakina broke twice in the second set to lead 5-1 and had a match point, but Svitolina fought her way back to 5-4 before the Kazakh served out the match at the second attempt.
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