The 2026 Indian Wells women’s final will be a rematch—and a grudge match—between the two hardest-hitting, highest-flying players on the WTA Tour: Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.
It will also be a rematch of the 2023 BNP Paribas Open final and this year’s Australian Open final (won by Rybakina).
Sabalenka and Rybakina both came through in straight sets on an extremely warm, yet dry, Friday evening at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, with powerhouse performances that surely made former Champion Maria Sharapova, who was in attendance in a suite, proud. The two thunderbolt ball strikers found their way to a 16th career meeting and sixth career final.
Sabalenka took out Linda Noskova 6-3, 6-4 in the first match, keeping the 21-year-old World No. 14 from Czechia at bay with a steady diet of booming serves and her typical clinical play under pressure.
Noskova went easy in the opener but started to push back in the second. Sabalenka was up to the challenge, saving a break point to hold for 5-3 before finishing off the match on serve two games later.
Rybakina’s 7-5, 6-4 win over Elina Svitolina went similarly, though it was closer in both sets. The two-time major champion rebounded from a break down early in the first, then broke late to take the set 7-5. In the second, she raced out to a double-break lead, but Svitolina refused to die. The Ukrainian saved match points in successive games then held for 4-5, but Rybakina handled her serve to close out the win.
That’s 12 straight Top 10 wins for Rybakina, who had never logged more than four such wins in succession before in her career.
“I think that I was always playing against top players well,” Rybakina said. “Maybe the statistic is not the same, and I was losing these tough matches a bit more before, but I think with the years, with experience, I’m getting this consistency, so hopefully I can just keep on going. Also, you get to know the players much more, so you play against the same player multiple times, so you know what to expect.”
Rybakina will know what to expect against Sabalenka, whom she has defeated in four consecutive finals, and four of five finals overall. The World No. 1, meanwhile, hopes to do more with her opportunities this time around against Rybakina.
“I’m so done losing these big finals,” she said. “It felt like even though players were playing incredible tennis in those finals, I feel like I had so many opportunities that I didn’t use. And right now my mentality, if I make it to the final, I’ll go out there and, you know, I’ll do everything I can and everything I cannot to get that trophy.”