03/12/26 06:00:00
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03/12 17:58 CDT Sabalenka and Sinner advance in straight sets to the semifinals
at Indian Wells
Sabalenka and Sinner advance in straight sets to the semifinals at Indian Wells
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) --- Aryna Sabalenka held off Victoria Mboko, 7-6 (0),
6-4, in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, keeping the
top-ranked player in women's tennis in the running for her first title at
Indian Wells.
After winning every point in the first-set tiebreaker, Sabalenka got the one
break she needed to win the second set and move on to the semifinals against
14th seed Linda Noskova of Czechia, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 winner over unseeded
Australian Talia Gibson.
In the men's draw, second-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy defeated 25th-seeded
American Learner Tien, 6-1, 6-2, ending the run of the youngest American --- at
age 20 --- to play in a quarterfinal at Indian Wells since his coach, Michael
Chang, won the tournament in 1992.
Sinner, who served 10 aces and double-faulted only once, will play his
semifinal match on Saturday against German Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner
over France's Arthur Fils.
Sabalenka hasn't lost a set in the tournament, but was pushed by the
10th-seeded Mboko, a 19-year-old Canadian who won the 2025 Canadian Open.
Sabalenka put 94% of her first serves in play and was not broken, but did fight
off five break points.
"I was focused on my game plan. I was just playing point by point," Sabalenka
said. "I'm pretty happy with the way I'm serving so far."
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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