Poland’s Iga Swiatek won’t get a chance to earn her third BNP Paribas Open championship in five years after losing 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Indian Wells, Calif.
Svitolina, the ninth seed, will oppose third-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the semifinals. Rybakina knocked out fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States 6-1, 7-6 (4).
In five tournaments this year, Svitolina has reached at least the semifinals four times, and she has a tour-high 19 wins on the season. She has won all six of her three-set matches in 2026.
Svitolina took an aggressive mindset into the matchup against Swiatek, who won the Indian Wells championship in 2022 and 2024.
“There is no champion who is waiting for mistakes, And you really have to try to set yourself up in a good position to attack,” Svitolina said. “I was feeling good and I was trying to really, you know, open up the court and try to take advantage, because Iga is such an aggressive player, and she moves really well. So if you don’t take the opportunity at the right time, she’s going to take it.”
Next Svitolina will oppose Rybakina, with the two having split six career meetings. They haven’t met on a hard court since 2021.
On the other side of the bracket, the Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova and Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka will battle in the semifinals.
Sabalenka, the world’s No. 1 player and the top seed, shook off a slow start to down Canada’s Victoria Mboko 7-6 (0), 6-4 in 109 minutes. It was Sabalenka’s second win this season over Mboko, after the two squared off in the Australian Open in January.
Though she showed a notable advantage on service points, winning 68% to Mboko’s 61%, Sabalenka credited her success on break points (5-for-5 on saves) for the victory.
“I feel like the moment (when) I will feel relaxed, I will definitely start losing. So I felt that’s why I have been really successful in those tiebreaks, because I take it really serious,” said Sabalenka, two-time runner-up at this event. “I’m not focusing on the past. I’m just trying to take it once again one point at a time.”
Noskova, seeded 14th, also had to work for her win, edging Australia’s Talia Gibson 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in 97 minutes.
After a first set that went by the script for the most part, Noskova ran into trouble in the second, as neither player could shake free of the other holding serve. Gibson used a first-game break to establish the early edge, then rode that to the second set win.
Noskova used three aces to regain control in the third.
Sabalenka won her only meeting with Noskova, 6-3, 7-6 (4), at the 2023 Adelaide International final.
–Field Level Media
