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.
Newly minted Australian Open champion Madison Keys added the highest WTA rankings of her career to her resume on Monday, rising to No. 5 despite withdrawing from last week’s Dubai Open with a leg injury.
The first-time Grand Slam winner joins fellow US standouts No. 3 Coco Gauff and No. 4 Jessica Pegula in the Top 5 WTA rankings, marking the first time three US women have featured in that elite echelon since Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, and Jennifer Capriati did so in 2003.
While Emma Navarro slid in at No. 10 to give the US four of the Top 10 WTA rankings, a breakthrough title-winning run at the 2025 Dubai Open launched Mirra Andreeva into the upper tier. The 17-year-old jumped five spots to claim No. 9 and become the youngest Top 10-ranked WTA player since 2007.
The sport's top two players held steady in Monday's shakeup, with No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Świątek keeping their ground.
That said, with the WTA Tour returning Stateside next week, expect more rankings movement — and perhaps a few surprise entries — as players continue to prep for the three Grand Slams remaining in the 2025 season.
Former WTA No. 1 Venus Williams will not play at Indian Wells
Contrary to last week’s widespread reports, tennis legend Venus Williams — who first rose to No. 1 in the WTA rankings 23 years ago this week — said she will not be participating in next month's 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
"I love Indian Wells, I would love to be there," the 44-year-old US icon told the crowd during a public appearance in Denmark on Monday. "If I could have accepted it, I would have loved to be there, but I already made commitments."
"We wish Venus all the best and hope to see her back in Indian Wells in the future," said tournament director Tommy Haas in response, reversing the Open’s earlier social media announcement of Williams' wild card berth.
On Wednesday, US tennis icon Venus Williams was awarded a wild card spot to play in next month’s BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, with the 44-year-old signing onto participate in her first WTA competition in a almost a year.
Williams has not featured in a tour event since the 2024 Miami Open, exiting that tournament in her March 19th opening match after dropping two straight sets to Diana Shnaider.
Venus Williams continues her storied tennis career
Often stating her desire to play professional tennis for as long as she can, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion has never officially announced her retirement.
"Serena ruined it for me," Williams joked during an October 2024 TV interview, referencing her sister’s 2022 retirement. "Because as soon as she retired, everybody thought I retired."
Williams, who turned pro over 30 years ago, boasts a resume with 49 singles trophies and five Olympic medals. Her combined 21 Grand Slam titles includes five Wimbledon singles championships, two US Open singles trophies, and 14 doubles titles alongside her younger sister.
While she has more major singles titles than any other active woman on tour, Williams hasn't added to her tally since winning the Taiwan Open in February 2016.
Having drastically decreased her competition schedule over the last few seasons, Williams has competed in just nine events over the past two years.
"At this point, it’s about picking and choosing places I want to be," she said.
A roller coaster history with Indian Wells
Given her stated intention to specifically choose her competition appearances, it's somewhat interesting that Williams set her sights on the Indian Wells tournament.
While she first competed at the event in 1994, both Williams and her sister boycotted the tournament for 14 years following Serena's experience during the 2001 final. Though she ultimately won the title, then-19-year-old Serena experienced booing and racist abuse during the match — an ordeal the younger Williams sister called "very traumatizing."
Serena ultimately returned to the competition in 2015, with Venus doing the same in 2016.
With 10 Indian Wells appearances on her resume, including three trips to the competition's semifinals, this year's tournament marks the second-straight year that Williams will play as a wild card entry. At the 2024 edition, she fell 6-2, 3-6, 0-6 to Nao Hibino in the first round.
How to watch the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells tennis tournament
The 2025 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells runs from March 2nd through 16th.
With her wild card berth, Williams will begin play when the main draw starts on March 5th.
Live coverage of the tournament will air across the Tennis Channel's platforms.
Iga Swiatek continues to dominate WTA 1000 events this season, taking down No. 6 seed Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1 to win the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday.
Swiatek, who has now won a career-best 11 straight matches and became the first woman to reach 20 wins this season, also claimed the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open title in Doha last month. With her fifth career WTA Tour singles title, Swiatek rose to No. 2 in the world rankings, behind Australian Open champion Ash Barty.
“[The World No. 2 ranking is] pretty surreal for now,” Swiatek said after the match. “I have to look at it and I have to check the rankings by myself and just see it. Right now it’s too surreal to describe it, honestly. … But for sure, I want to go higher because I feel like getting No. 1 is closer and closer.”
The 20-year-old dominated the entire 80-minute match to pull even with Sakkari in their career matchup record. The two now have three wins apiece against each other.
Up goes the racket again 🙆♀️
— wta (@WTA) March 20, 2022
The first Polish woman to win the #IndianWells title!@iga_swiatek | @BNPPARIBASOPEN pic.twitter.com/eWcH25aDHL
“At the beginning of the tournament, I wouldn’t even think about winning, honestly,” Swiatek said. “Of course you have to believe in yourself, but I’m a realistic person.
“Winning after playing so well in Doha is giving me a lot of confidence and kind of belief that I can do it. … I wouldn’t think of myself as someone who’s ready to play two tournaments in a row and win it. For sure, hard work is paying off.
Despite the loss, Sakkari rose to a career-high No. 3 ranking, joining Stefanos Tisitsipas as the highest-ranked Greek players in history.
“I can’t believe there’s only two girls above me right now,” Sakkari said after the final. “Whoever followed my steps the last couple of years, they know what that means to me.
“I think I played some very, very good matches. I really believe I took a step forward this week, even though I lost today. It was a week that will have a special place in my heart. I know it sounds kind of weird because I did not win the tournament, but I felt like I improved as a player this week. I’m just going to take that with me and move forward.”
Iga Swiatek is heading to the Indian Wells final after defeating 2015 champion Simona Halep 7-6(6), 6-4 in the BNP Paribas Open semifinals on Friday.
After going down a break in each set, the Polish star recovered for the resilient 1-hour, 49-minute win over Halep. Swiatek is now 10-0 in WTA 1000 events this season as the 20-year-old continues her impressive start to the year.
“Today I had to come back from some breaks as well, so I think mentally it was the toughest one,” Swiatek said after the match.
Rallies we love to see 🌟@iga_swiatek | #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/YfcxXDhEUn
— wta (@WTA) March 19, 2022
Swiatek will face Maria Sakkari in the BNP Paribas Open final on Sunday after the world No. 6 took down defending champion Paula Badosa 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Sakkari dominated the opening set, firing 11 winners to Badosa’s two. After a tight second set, Sakkari got back on track in the third, deploying a fierce baseline game to cruise past the world No. 7.
“I work my entire life to get to this, to the late stages of the tournaments. It means a lot to me,” Sakkari said through tears during her post-match interview. Sunday will mark the first WTA 1000 final of Sakkari’s career.
BIG serve, BIGGER roar 🗣️@mariasakkari | #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/49nW30n4bU
— wta (@WTA) March 19, 2022
Sakkari holds a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over Swiatek, but Swiatek got the better of the Greek star just three weeks ago. The winner of Sunday’s final will clinch the No. 2 ranking.
Iga Swiatek won her ninth consecutive match on Wednesday, handedly defeating No. 25 seed Madison Keys in straight sets 6-1, 6-0.
With the win, the No. 3 seed advances to the semifinals where she’ll face off against Simona Halep.
Swiatek reeled off the first five games of the match to take a 5-1 lead in the first set. She didn’t drop a point after that, dominating Keys and going 3-for-3 on break points.
Did you catch 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 mid-rally 😮@iga_swiatek | #IndianWells pic.twitter.com/pXwTIgnYxq
— wta (@WTA) March 17, 2022
Swiatek is the first player on the WTA Tour to advance to four semifinals in 2022, having made the semifinals in Adelaide, at the Australian Open, in Doha and now at Indian Wells. The 20-year-old is also the youngest player to reach the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Open since Bianca Andreescu in 2019.
With nine wins in a row, Swiatek is also the youngest player to achieve such a feat on hard courts since Andreescu in 2019. She is 18-3 on the season in match-wins, which leads the tour. At WTA 1000 events, Swiatek is undefeated, having claimed the first WTA 1000 tournament title of the year in Doha.
“I felt really comfortable,” Swiatek said after the 56-minute match. “I’m also trying to get some fun as well from matches which are tight. Right now I’m more focused on finding solutions and I want every match to be a lesson for me.”
It’s a great start to the year for Swiatek, who finished No. 9 last year in the world rankings and parted ways with long-time coach Piotr Sierzputowski. She’s currently up to No. 4 in the world, which ties her career high.
She’ll face off against Halep for the fourth time in the semifinal. Their previous three meetings have all come at Grand Slam events, with Halep holding a 2-1 lead over Swiatek. Halep disposed of Petra Martic in the quarterfinal 6-1, 6-1.