Arina Sabalenka prepares to serve against Victoria Mboko during the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, March 12, 2026 in Indian Wells, California. Poland’s Iga Swiatek was denied a chance to win the BNP Paribas Open for the third time in five years after losing 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Indian Wells, California.
Svitolina, the 9th seed, will face 3rd seed Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) in the semifinals. Rivakina defeated 5th seed Jessica Pegula (USA) 6-1, 7-6(4).
In five tournaments this year, Svitolina reached the semifinals at least four times and recorded a season-high 19 wins. She won all six games in three sets in 2026.
Svitolina took an aggressive mindset in her match against Swiatek, who won the 2022 and 2024 Indian Wells championships.
“No champion waits for a mistake,” said Svitolina. “You have to try to be in a good position to attack.” “I felt good and tried to open the court and take advantage, because Iga is a very aggressive player and she moves really well, so if I don’t get my chance at the right time, she’ll take it.”
Svitolina will next oppose Rybakina, with the pair splitting six career meetings. They haven’t met on a hard court since 2021.
On the other side of the bracket, Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will face off in the semifinals.
Sabalenka, world number one and top seed, shook off a slow start to beat Canada’s Victoria Mboko 7-6(0), 6-4 in 109 minutes. This is Sabalenka’s second win over Mboko this season after they met at the Australian Open in January.
She had a notable advantage in service points, winning 68% to Mboko’s 61%, but Sabalenka credited her success on break points (5-for-5 saves) with the win.
“The moment you get comfortable, you feel like you’re going to start losing. That’s why I felt I was really successful in the tiebreaks, because I take it really seriously,” said Sabalenka, a two-time runner-up at the tournament. “I’m not focusing on the past. I’m just trying to take it back one point at a time.”
Noskova, seeded 14th, also had to work her way to the win, beating Australia’s Talia Gibson 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in 97 minutes.
After a first set that went largely scripted, Noskova ran into trouble in the second as neither player could break away from another holding serve. Gibson used the first game break to gain an early advantage and then used it to win the second set.
Noskova used her third ace to regain control in the third.
Sabalenka won 6-3, 7-6(4) in their only meeting with Noskova in the final of the 2023 Adelaide International.
–Field level media
