Sabalenka sets up Indian Wells title rematch with Rybakina

Aryna Sabalenka roared past Linda Noskova on Friday to book an Indian Wells title showdown with Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina.

Sabalenka beat 14th-ranked Czech Noskova 6-3, 6-4 and Rybakina downed Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-4 to set up a mouth-watering rematch of their Melbourne final.

Rybakina also beat Sabalenka in the 2023 championship match in Indian Wells -- where the Belarusian star has come up empty in two prior trips to the final.

“I want that match,” said Sabalenka, who has been in imperious form in the California desert this year. She fired 37 winners with 11 aces, applying relentless pressure from the baseline in a commanding win over Noskova.

She broke the big-serving Czech twice as she powered to a 5-1 lead in the opening set.

There was a hiccup as she tried to serve out the set, and Sabalenka, who had lost just one point in her first three service games, was broken.

Noskova kept the set alive with a battling hold in a marathon eighth game, fending off a set point with a service winner and sealing the game with an ace.

Serving for the set again, Sabalenka opened with a double fault and went down 0-30, but a pair of big serves and a backhand winner brought her to set point, and she claimed it with an ace.

Sabalenka broke Noskova to open the second and was on her way. Noskova fended off a second break, but she was unable to convert a break opportunity in the eighth game as Sabalenka brought it home, capping the victory with a forehand winner on her third match point.

“I think I really played great tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I was serving well. I was playing well. I like the way I put her under pressure on her serve.”

Rybakina, who is set to rise one spot to number two in the world on Monday, had too much firepower for ninth-ranked Svitolina, who was coming off a three-set win over two-time champion Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals.

Rybakina recouped an early break in a tight first set and seized control with a break for 6-5, her steady pressure on Svitolina’s serve provoking too many mistakes from the Ukrainian.

Rybakina won seven straight games from 4-5 down in the first, breaking Svitolina twice on the way to a 4-0 lead in the second set.

The experienced Svitolina made her keep grinding, saving a match point on her own serve then saving another on the way to a break for 5-3 as she won three straight games.

But Rybakina made no mistake as she served for the match a second time, nabbing her 12th straight victory over top-10 opponents.

“Not, maybe, my best performance, but I’m super happy to win this match and be in the final again,” Rybakina said.

Although she trails Sabalenka 8-7 in their career head-to-head, she has won their last two meetings, in the title match of last year’s WTA Finals and at the Australian Open -- where she claimed her second Grand Slam crown.

Despite those recent successes Rybakina was expecting a battle on Sunday.

“We played so many times, and I think it all depends on close moments, which we usually have -- whoever steps in, plays more aggressive, more solid,” Rybakina said. “It’s going to be a difficult match.

“We’re both going to try to serve well, that’s for sure, put pressure... we will see what’s going to happen.”

Meanwhile, Sabalenka said players must halt points straightaway to seek a video review for hindrance and not wait to decide, after Daniil Medvedev’s dispute with Jack Draper sparked controversy at Indian Wells. Medvedev earned a late break in his 6-1 7-5 victory after a contentious hindrance call from chair umpire Aurelie Tourte, who ruled via video review that Draper’s raised arm distracted the Russian. The review was requested once the point ended.

Draper insisted he had not caused a major distraction but the umpire stuck with her decision to award Medvedev the point, prompting jeers from fans. According to the video review procedures for Indian Wells, as listed by the ATP and WTA, reviews can be sought after point-ending shots or if a player immediately stops play.

“What I think is really awkward is you can finish the point and then ask for that,” Sabalenka told reporters on Friday.

“Because if you really got bothered, then you should stop immediately and ask for the video review ... if he would have won the point, he wouldn’t probably ask for the video review, right? I don’t really think that’s the way it should be.

“If he got bothered, (he should) ask for the video review straightaway.”

Agencies