World No. 1 tennis star Aryna Sabalenka is riding high, as the top-ranked WTA star earned her first-ever Indian Wells title with a three-set win over No. 3 Elena Rybakina in Sunday's 2026 BNP Paribas Open final.
With temperatures venturing into the 90s, Sabalenka took the reigning Australian Open champion down 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6), avenging both her January loss to Rybakina in Melbourne as well as last year's Indian Wells finale exit.
"I think the whole idea going into this match was to be mentally strong, to stay strong no matter what, to show with the body language that I'm here, I'm fighting," Sabalenka said postmatch. "I'm happy that it really worked."
The 27-year-old now has half of this year's Sunshine Double in the bag, as she gears up to compete in the 2026 Miami Open later this week.
"I'm defending champion there, so I have to bring my best tennis there," said Sabalenka before departing California for Florida. "But with these vibes that I'm taking from here, I think I'll be able to be there and to fight and to do my very best to defend that beautiful trophy."
How to watch Aryna Sabalenka in the 2026 Miami Open
The 2026 Miami Open kicks off with the Round of 128 on Tuesday, which will determine Sabalenka's first opponent when the defending champion enters the competition in the Round of 64.
Live coverage of the tournament will air on the Tennis Channel.
Four of the world's Top 5 players are still kicking in California, as tennis's elite advance to the quarterfinals of the 2026 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka ousted No. 16 Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-4 in their Round of 16 match on Tuesday, while No. 2 Iga Świątek, No. 3 Elena Rybakina, and No. 5 Jessica Pegula also reached the final field of eight players — seven of whom advanced in straight sets this week.
"Had to turn the tables today," Pegula said with a smile after defeating No. 12 Belinda Bencic 6-3, 7-6(5) on Wednesday — the 32-year-old's first win over the Swiss standout in the pair's fifth-career meeting. "Nobody beats me five times in a row."
Pegula might be the only US player left, but North America is well represented by 19-year-old Canadian No. 10 Victoria Mboko, whose quick ascent up the WTA rankings earned her a quarterfinal matchup against top-dog Sabalenka.
"I'm experiencing a lot of things for the first time," Mboko said after cruising to a 6-4, 6-1 win over US star No. 6 Amanda Anisimova in Tuesday's Round of 16 action. "To be out here playing Top 10 players, playing top of the world, it's really a privilege."
How to watch the 2026 Indian Wells Open quarterfinals
Thursday's Indian Wells quarterfinals kick off with No. 1 Sabalenka vs. No. 10 Mboko at 2 PM ET before No. 14 Linda Nosková takes on unseeded Australian and No. 112-ranked Talia Gibson at 4 PM ET.
No. 2 Świątek will contend with No. 9 Elina Svitolina at 5:30 PM ET, with a Top 5 matchup between No. 5 Pegula and No. 3 Rybakina closing out the quarterfinals at 8 PM ET.
Live coverage of all four matches will air on the Tennis Channel.
Coco Gauff withdrew from her third-round Indian Wells match with a left arm injury on Monday, after trailing Alexandra Eala 6-2, 0-2. The world No. 4 struggled throughout the 2026 BNP Paribas Open contest before exiting the court.
Eala dominated the opening set, breaking Gauff in all four service games to claim the set 6-2. The 20-year-old Filipino star later secured a crucial break in the fourth game to take control, before reeling off five consecutive games to close out the frame.
Coco Gauff committed seven double-faults in the first set alone, finishing the match with 26 unforced errors compared to Eala's 12. The US fan favorite struggled to find her rhythm on serve throughout the abbreviated battle.
Gauff's physical issues became apparent as the match progressed, as she showed visible discomfort in her left arm during the second set. After Eala broke early to take a 2-0 lead in the second, Gauff opted to retire.
"We're going to figure out what it is tomorrow, but based off the feeling, being told that it's probably something nerve-related. Never had anything like this before, never felt anything, a sensation like this before," Gauff said postmatch.
"And then as the match played, it got progressively worse, even when I wasn't using my arm on shots that I wasn't even using my left arm for."
The result avenged Eala's quarterfinal loss to Gauff at the Dubai Tennis Championships just weeks earlier. Gauff delivered a dominant performance in that match, while Eala's California victory marks her second win over a WTA Top 10 player this year.
Eala now improves to a 4-3 career record against Top 10 opponents. She advances to face 14th-seeded Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic in Tuesday's Round of 16.
Naomi Osaka advanced to the fourth round at the 2026 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells with Sunday's 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Camila Osorio, avenging last year's first-round loss to the Colombian in style.
The world No. 16 will next face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the tournament's Round of 16, after Sabalenka defeated Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 6-4, 6-1 with 23 winners.
Osaka dominated the opening set against Osorio before losing her way in the second, when Osorio broke for a 4-2 lead and held serve to claim the set. However, the comeback ended there. Osaka went on to break early in the third set, building a 3-0 lead without facing another break point.
"I tried to be more positive," Osaka said postmatch, admitting frustration with second-set mistakes. "I was complaining a lot and then I just kind of thought my daughter could be watching me mope around the court. So I needed to pick up my attitude."
The match marked the Japanese fan favorite's first tournament since withdrawing from her Australian Open third-round match with injury. The four-time Grand Slam champion won her first Indian Wells title in 2018 — the same year she captured the US Open.
Sabalenka and Osaka have met just once before, when Osaka defeated Sabalenka during her 2018 US Open championship run. Both players now hold four Grand Slam titles.
"I'll have a chance to get a revenge, hopefully," Sabalenka said, seeking her first Indian Wells final win after twice finishing as runner-up.
How to Watch Naomi Osaka at the 2026 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells
Osaka takes on Sabalenka in the Indian Wells Round of 16 tomorrow (time TBD), live on The Tennis Channel.
Aryna Sabalenka announced her engagement to Brazilian businessman Georgios Frangulis on Tuesday, as the world No. 1 shared the proposal video on Instagram.
The post featured the caption "You & me, forever" along with ring and heart emojis. Sabalenka received immediate congratulations from fellow tennis stars including Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Ben Shelton, Caroline Wozniacki, Coco Gauff, and Amanda Anisimova. US rugby player and social media influencer Ilona Maher also joined the celebration.
Fellow tennis professionals quickly flooded the comments section with well wishes. The announcement generated widespread attention across social media platforms, with fans celebrating Sabalenka's personal milestone alongside her professional achievements.
After congratulating her the four-time Grand Slam champion, Anisimova now gears up to potentially face Sabalenka in this year's Indian Wells quarterfinals. The event begins Wednesday in Southern California's desert region.
The 2026 Indian Wells Open marks Sabalenka's first WTA competition since losing January's Australian Open final to Elena Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The defeat ended her bid for a fifth major singles title.
The engagement comes during a significant moment in the Belarusian star's career. She maintains her position as world No. 1 heading into this month's BNP Paribas Open. The WTA 1000 event represents one of the WTA Tour's most important non-slam stops.
Frangulis proposed in what appeared to be an intimate setting, after keeping a relatively low profile throughout their relationship. The couple plans to balance wedding preparations with the demanding tennis schedule ahead.
How to Watch Aryna Sabalenka at the 2026 Indian Wells Open
The BNP Paribas Open starts today at Indian Wells. Sabalenka is set to kick off her 2026 campaign during Friday's Round of 64, live on The Tennis Channel.
Teen tennis star Mirra Andreeva is on a roll, upsetting world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday's final of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells and launching five spots to No. 6 in the WTA rankings as a result.
Sabalenka entered Sunday's match having not dropped a single set all tournament, then started the final strong with a 6-2 first-set victory.
The three-time Grand Slam winner's advantage didn't last past the first break, however, as Sabalenka's 17-year-old opponent came back roaring back to finish off the match 6-4, 6-3.
"In the second set, I tried to play a little bit more aggressive," Andreeva said after the match. "I didn’t try to overhit her, because I don’t think anyone can overhit Aryna, because she’s super powerful player."
"I tried to really create something to make her uncomfortable, and point by point, game by game, I managed to do that."
WTA Tour-leading Andreeva still hunting first Slam title
With Sunday's win, Andreeva became the youngest Indian Wells champion since then-17-year-old Serena Williams defeated Steffi Graf to win the tournament in 1999.
Even more, Andreeva did so in dominant fashion, ousting top players like No. 22 Elina Svitolina, No. 8 Elena Rybakina, and even the contest's defending champion, No. 2 Iga Świątek, to advance to the championship match.
By defeating both Sabalenka and five-time major champion Świątek, Andreeva added her name next to Williams' in another line of the tennis history book, becoming the first player under 18-years-old to defeat the world Nos. 1 and 2 at the same WTA tournament since the US legend did so at the 1999 US Open.
Perhaps most impressively, Andreeva now sits atop all other players on tour with a 19-3 record on the season, after adding Sunday's Indian Wells trophy to last month's 2025 Dubai Championships title.
That said, Andreeva's current hot streak isn't just a warning to her opponents on tour — it's a signal that the teen could be on the precipice of lifting her first-ever Grand Slam trophy, as her chances of reaching the sport's apex skyrocket with every top-ranked victory.
With Sunday's final match looming, the competition is heating up at the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells — though several top US players are no longer feeling the fire after falling short in the Round of 16.
Unseeded 28-year-old Swiss contender Belinda Bencic claimed arguably the tournament's biggest upset thus far, with the wild card ousting world No. 3 Coco Gauff on Wednesday.
Despite Gauff taking the first set, 2020 Olympic champion Bencic prevailed, fighting through multiple medical timeouts to snag the win.
Fellow US standout No. 4 Jessica Pegula suffered a similar fate, losing to Ukraine’s No. 23 Elina Svitolina in a three-set match heavily impacted by three hours of rain delays on Tuesday.
With the 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 come-from-behind win, Svitolina advances to her first Indian Wells quarterfinals in six years.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and defending Indian Wells champion No. 2 Iga Świątek continued their dominance through the Round of 16, with each booking their quarterfinals berth without dropping a single set at the tournament.
Bencic to face last-standing US player Madison Keys
Another US star stands between Bencic and Friday's semifinals, as 2025 Australian Open champ and freshly minted world No. 5 Madison Keys continues her winning form in California.
The endurance and tenacity that earned Keys her first-ever Grand Slam title is on display at Indian Wells, where she outlasted Belgium's No. 28 Elise Mertens after three back-and-forth sets on Monday before surviving a difficult battle against Croatia's No. 19-seed Donna Vekić in Wednesday’s Round of 16.
By winning the 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 clash, Keys is now riding a 15-match victory streak into Thursday's quarterfinal.
"I kind of just started deciding I was going to go for a little bit more," she said afterwards. "Really happy to be able to get that match and get that win and play another match here."
How to watch Thursday's 2025 Indian Wells quarterfinals
Thursday's quarterfinal round kicks off with Świątek taking on China's 2024 Olympic champion No. 8-seed Qinwen Zheng in a gold-medal rematch at 2 PM ET.
Svitolina will take on No. 9-seed Mirra Andreeva at 4 PM ET, with Keys set to contend with Bencic at 5:10 PM ET.
Sabalenka will close out the round at 8 PM ET, when she'll face her first seeded opponent all tournament in No. 24-seed Liudmila Samsonova.
Live coverage of all matches will air on the Tennis Channel.
Top-ranked players cruised through the competition at the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells over the weekend, with few early-round upsets leaving the sport’s best firmly intact as the Round of 32 enters its second day.
Defending champion and world No. 2 Iga Świątek has put together the tournament's most dominant performance so far, with the Polish phenom dropping just four total games in her first two victories over France's Caroline Garcia and Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska.
On the other hand, several lower seeded players suffered early round losses.
Yastremska opened her Indian Wells account by ousting Tunisian star and world No. 32 Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1 in Friday's first round.
Meanwhile, Saturday saw Canada's No. 27 Leylah Annie Fernandez and the US's No. 18 Amanda Anisimova fall in three-set first-round battles with Romania's Jaqueline Cristian and Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, respectively.
Sunday's play went mostly according to seeding, with the lone second-round upset win going to Ukrainian Elina Svitolina. The world No. 23 player sent the US's No. 14 Danielle Collins packing with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat.
Top 5 players look to roll to the Round of 16
While Świątek and US standout No. 4 Jessica Pegula booked their Round of 16 spots on Sunday, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka as well as US stars No. 3 Coco Gauff and No. 5 Madison Keys will take the court for their second-round matchups on Monday afternoon.
Keys faces perhaps the toughest path to the trophy.
If the 2025 Australian Open champion clears Belgium's No. 28 Elise Mertens on Monday, she could face Gauff in an all-US quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Then, a potential date with 2024 US Open winner Sabalenka — who Keys defeated to secure her first-ever Grand Slam win — awaits in the tournament's penultimate round.
How to watch the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells
The conclusion of the tournament's second round is currently underway, with live coverage airing on the Tennis Channel.
The WTA announced sweeping new parental protections on Thursday, with over 300 players becoming eligible to receive paid parental leave for the first time in the pro tennis organization’s history.
Despite their year-round schedule, WTA players are technically independent contractors, a status that previously limited their access to benefits.
Players can now apply for up to 12 months of leave for carrying a child, while athletes who become parents through surrogacy, adoption, or partner pregnancy are eligible for a two-month leave.
The program also allots grants to support fertility treatments, including egg freezing and IVF.
All athletes who have competed in at least eight WTA tournaments, including four at a minimum 250 level, over the last 12 months are eligible to receive benefits. As an alternative, players contesting at least 24 WTA events over the last 36 months, including 12 at the 250 level, will also be eligible.
Under those requirements, the WTA calculates that 320 current athletes now qualify for paid parental leave.
Details surrounding the benefit amount were not disclosed. But the program will be retroactive to January 1st.
"We’ve seen players making decisions about maybe ending their careers a little sooner than they would have liked because they want to explore family life, or coming back onto the tour and competing maybe sooner than they’re ready," WTA CEO Portia Archer told reporters at the BNP Paribas Open on Monday. "And so we think that this will minimize some of that stress and make those kinds of decisions easier."
"That can be transformational for some players, particularly those earning less than the top players in the world, where these kinds of benefits and support may be more impactful. So we really do hope that it changes lives."
WTA parental leave program sponsored by Saudi Arabia
The new WTA program offering parental protections is being backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of 2024 WTA Finals host Saudi Arabia. The WTA entered into a multi-year partnership with the kingdom last May.
While the country’s recent investments in women’s sports grab headlines, many identify the moves as "sportswashing," or using sports investments to draw public attention away from other unethical practices.
Numerous prominent athletes have criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record, particularly when it comes to practices involving women as well as the LGBTQIA+ community.
Practices such as a law requiring women to have permission from a male relative in order to marry have the country ranked 126th out of 146 nations in the 2024 Global Gender Gap Report.
When pressed on the issue, Archer simply said, "Questions about Saudi society are really not questions for me or the WTA. They’re questions for the Saudis to answer."
Former world No. 1 tennis star Naomi Osaka hit another setback on Wednesday, falling in straight sets in the first round of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells to Colombia’s unseeded Camila Osorio.
Osaka earned her first-ever WTA title at Indian Wells, defeating Daria Kasatkina to become the event's 2018 champion.
Wednesday's 6-4, 6-4 loss marked the now-No. 56 Osaka's first return to the court since an abdominal injury forced an early end to her impressive 2025 Australian Open run.
"It feels like a bump in the road," said the four-time Grand Slam champion after the match. "I don’t feel like I played well at all, but I still feel like I had so many chances to be in the match."
The match was Osorio's Indian Wells debut, with the No. 53 player now standing as the only Colombian woman to ever defeat a former world No. 1 player.
"It's a dream come true," said Osorio. "I really wanted to play on this court and was really excited and looking forward to playing a champion like Naomi, so I can't believe it."
WTA stars aim for title, rankings boosts at Indian Wells
Indian Wells serves as the opener for the Sunshine Double, a pair of early-season high-profile WTA 1000 events that sees the world’s top players hitting the US hardcourt. The annual tournament duo includes this week's event in California and, later this month, Florida's Miami Open.
Positioned in the tennis calendar's longest break between Grand Slams, the Sunshine Double often gives players a competitive opportunity to build up their rankings by accruing points in the lead-up to May's French Open.
To that end, the world's top contenders will all enter the Indian Wells fray on Friday, including No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and the tournament's defending champion, No. 2 Iga Świątek.
The event's convenient West Coast locale also attracts a wealth of US entrants, with No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 4 Jessica Pegula, and 2025 Australian Open champion No. 5 Madison Keys joining fellow Stateside competitors No. 8 Emma Navarro, No. 14 Danielle Collins, and No. 18 Amanda Anisimova on this week's Indian Wells court.
How to watch the 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells tennis tournament
The 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells will be contested through March 16th, with all seeded competitors beginning their tournament runs in Friday's Round of 64.
Live coverage of the tournament will air across the Tennis Channel's platforms.