Arina Sabalenka defeated Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open held in Indian Wells, California on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. The last time Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka faced each other, neither had won a Grand Slam title.
The two met for the second time in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open held in Indian Wells, California on Tuesday, and each won four majors. Sabalenka, now the top seed, won 6-2, 6-4 against 16th seed Osaka.
The result was the exact opposite of the 2018 US Open fourth round, when Osaka won in three sets and attempted to win her first major championship.
This time Sabalenka was in charge, winning 70% of the service points and saving all of Osaka’s break opportunities.
“I am very happy with my performance today. I felt it was a great performance for me because the way it brought variety on the court, it allowed her to do most of the guessing and I was happy with her serve as well,” Sabalenka said.
Sabalenka acknowledged that her lackluster history in Osaka was partly due to Osaka’s maternity leave on tour.
“Can you believe we’ve only done one tour in so many years?” Sabalenka said. “But I think he started to get better after I got pregnant. So I don’t think we’ve had many chances to meet each other. I’m sure we’ll run into each other a few more times in the future.”
Osaka said, “It definitely felt like I was playing her for the first time. Of course, I thought I could see it on TV or something, but in reality it was very different.”
“I felt like I was a little flat-footed because I expected the ball to come harder and it didn’t. She grunted the same way to every ball. I thought, ‘Oh my God, she tricked me (laughs).’
“No, it was a really great learning experience. I know we haven’t played in a long time, so hopefully we can play again soon.”
Sabalenka’s next opponent in the quarterfinals will be the winner of the evening’s match between sixth-seeded Amanda Anisimova (USA) and 10th-seeded Victoria Mboko (Canada).
In other afternoon matches, Australian qualifier Talia Gibson defeated seventh seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. It was the first time Gibson, 21, had beaten a top-10 opponent, and the result made her the first qualifier to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals since Lesia Tsurenko in 2015.
“I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish over the last two weeks,” Gibson said. “Yes, to be honest, I’m still speechless about how I ended up here.”
In tonight’s final, 14th seed Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic was scheduled to face 31st seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.
–Field level media
