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03/12 19:44 CDT Sabalenka and Sinner advance in straight sets to the semifinals
at Indian Wells
Sabalenka and Sinner advance in straight sets to the semifinals at Indian Wells
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) --- Aryna Sabalenka held off Victoria Mboko, 7-6 (0),
6-4, in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, keeping the
top-ranked player in women's tennis in the running for her first title at
Indian Wells.
After winning every point in the first-set tiebreaker, Sabalenka got the one
break she needed to win the second set and move on to the semifinals against
14th seed Linda Noskova of Czechia, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 winner over unseeded
Australian Talia Gibson.
Also moving on to the semifinals for just the second time at Indian Wells was
ninth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who knocked off second-seeded Iga
Swiatek of Poland, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Svitolina broke to go up 5-4 in the third set and held serve for the match. She
was slated to play Friday against the winner of Thursday night's quarterfinal
match between American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
In the men's draw, second-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy defeated 25th-seeded
American Learner Tien, 6-1, 6-2, ending the run of the youngest American --- at
age 20 --- to play in a quarterfinal at Indian Wells since his coach, Michael
Chang, won the tournament in 1992.
Sinner, who served 10 aces and double-faulted only once, will play his
semifinal match on Saturday against German Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner
over France's Arthur Fils.
Sabalenka hasn't lost a set in the tournament, but was pushed by the
10th-seeded Mboko, a 19-year-old Canadian who won the 2025 Canadian Open ---
and whom Sabalenka defeated 6-1, 7-6 (1) in the fourth round of the Australian
Open earlier this year.
Mboko was "serving much better than she did in that match in Australia ---
definitely a bit more confident and was playing more brave," Sabalenka said. "I
think that's why the scoreboard was bit closer than in Australia."
Sabalenka put 94% of her first serves in play and was not broken, but did have
to fight off five break points.
"That was a tough battle today," Sabalenka said. "Happy with the level I played
in those key moments in each set.
"I was focused on my game plan. I was just playing point by point," Sabalenka
said. "I'm pretty happy with the way I'm serving so far."
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
