Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina added another milestone by reaching her second Indian Wells final with a 7-5, 6-4 win over world No. 9 Elina Svitolina in one hour and 46 minutes.
The victory marked her 12th straight win over Top 10 opponents, a streak that began last October in Ningbo, where she also lifted the title.
Playing her seventh career match against Svitolina, the world No. 3 was broken in her opening service game but responded with a pair of breaks to claim the opening set, winning 19 of 21 points on her first serve.
Rybakina raced to a 4-0 double-break lead in the second set and navigated a brief spell of turbulence before closing out the match. The ever-resilient Svitolina saved match points in two consecutive games to narrow the gap to a single break and then held serve, forcing Rybakina to serve it out, according to Indian Wells reports.
The third match point finally did the job for the 26-year-old, who improved to 16-3 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and 17-3 overall in 2026.
“I cannot be super happy with my performance today. I definitely need to get better before the final,” Rybakina said.
She will now face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, whom she defeated in both the Australian Open final earlier this year and the 2023 Indian Wells championship match.
Rybakina and Sabalenka have met 16 times, with Sabalenka holding a narrow 8-7 edge.
However, their record in finals tells a different story. The pair have met in five title matches, with Rybakina winning four of them — including a four-match winning streak in finals that began with the 2023 Indian Wells final at Stadium 1.
“I’m so done losing these big finals,” Sabalenka said. “It felt like even though players were playing incredible tennis in those finals, I had so many opportunities that I didn’t use.”
-IANS
