Wells

It is a first title of the year for Sinner, who had his Australian Open title defence ended by Djokovic in a thrilling five-set semi-final in January.

Sinner also extends his head-to-head record against Medvedev, having won nine of their past 10 meetings.

Despite the loss, Medvedev will re-enter the top 10 when the rankings are updated on Monday.

The former US Open champion almost missed the tournament, having been stuck in Dubai because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

After arriving in the USA, Medvedev showed why he was previously at the top of the men’s game, with a fine semi-final victory over world number one Carlos Alcaraz.

However, it was Sinner who edged the tight moments on Sunday, helped by his imperious serve.

Sinner won 43 of 47 first-serve points, hit 10 aces and won 60% of points behind his second serve to remain in control of the match.

Medvedev saved the only two break points of the final and came close to forcing a third set when he went 4-0 up in the tie-break.

However, Sinner reeled off seven points in a row to close out the match and win back-to-back Masters 1,000 titles without dropping a set.

Elsewhere, world number three Djokovic has withdrawn from this week’s Miami Open with injury.

The Serb great has won the title six times and finished runner-up to Jakub Mensik last year.

However, the 24-time Grand Slam champion said a right shoulder injury had stopped him competing at the hard-court event, which begins on Monday.

INDIAN WELLS — World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka beat Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the Indian Wells final Sunday for her first title at the tournament.

Sabalenka, a runner-up in 2023 and ‘25, finished off the win at the BNP Paribas Open with a big serve that Rybakina hit long. It was a sweltering afternoon on the court as the temperatures soared into the 90s.

The 27-year-old Sabalenka had a chance to close out the third set but was broken at 5-4. Rybakina found herself with a championship point in the tiebreaker, only to have Sabalenka hit a backhand winner.

This marked the 16th time the two players have met, with Sabalenka now holding a 9-7 advantage. Rybakina of Kazakhstan beat Sabalenka at the 2025 WTA Finals championship and the Australian Open two months ago. She also edged Sabalenka in the finals at Indian Wells in 2023.

“What a day,” Sabalenka said after the match.

In the men’s final later Sunday, Daniil Medvedev faces Jannik Sinner, who has won eight of his last nine matches against Medvedev.

Medvedev, who arrived in the US after leaving the UAE via Oman amid Iranian attacks, ends world number one’s 16-match run.

Daniil Medvedev has handed top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz his first loss of the year and advanced to the final at the Indian Wells Open after arriving at the tournament from the midst of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The 11th-seeded Medvedev advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory on Saturday and will face second-seeded Jannik Sinner, who beat Alexander Zverev 6-2, 6-4 in the California-based tournament.

Alcaraz had won 16 straight matches this year, including titles at the Australian Open and Qatar Open, but Medvedev ended the possibility of an Alcaraz versus Sinner final.

Medvedev had dropped his last four meetings against Alcaraz, including a loss in the Indian Wells final in 2024. This was Medvedev’s first victory over him since the US Open semifinals in 2023.

The Russian player was stuck in the United Arab Emirates for three days following his title win at the Dubai Tennis Championship on February 28, the day the United States and Israel attacked Iran to launch a region-wide conflict.

Medvedev’s participation in the premier US West Coast-based tournament looked doubtful after he was unable to leave Dubai for two days due to airspace closure.

The 30-year-old was able to exit on the third day by crossing over into Oman by land after a six-hour drive along with fellow players Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov.

From Oman, the players boarded a flight to Istanbul before leaving the Turkish city to arrive in the US two days before their opening matches at Indian Wells.

“You feel like you’re in a Hollywood movie,” Medvedev told the Russian media outlet Bolshe of his multi-leg journey to arrive at the tournament that he seemed likely to miss.

Medvedev had been scheduled to play in the Eisenhower Cup, a one-night Tie Break Tens doubles event alongside fellow Russian Mirra Andreeva on March 3, but missed the exhibition event.

Meanwhile, Sinner made quick work of Zverev in the second semifinal, beating the German in one hour, 23 minutes. Sinner notched six aces against the fourth-seeded Zverev.

Zverev won his first eight points on serve. But Sinner broke Zverev in the fifth and seventh games to secure the first set. Sinner now leads the head-to-head series against Zverev 7-4.

Neither Medvedev nor Sinner has dropped a set yet in this tournament. Sinner has won his last three matches against Medvedev, including the US Open quarterfinals in 2024.

In the women’s doubles final, Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova beat Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic 7-6 (4), 6-4. The victory marked Townsend’s first at Indian Wells and Siniakova’s second. Siniakova also won in 2023 alongside longtime partner Barbora Krejcikova.

In the men’s doubles final, Guido Andreozzi and Manuel Guinard topped Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot 7-6 (3), 6-3. In mixed doubles, Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli beat top-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski and Lloyd Glasspool 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.

Sinner has won 21 of his 24 titles on hard courts and looked on top form as he raced to victory in one hour and 23 minutes.

The 24-year-old is aiming to become just the third man – after Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic – to capture all six ATP Masters 1000 hard-court titles.

“It was a great performance – very solid from the back of the court. I tried to go for shots and that felt like one of the keys,” he said.

“He has a huge serve so I tried to mix it up. From my side I was very precise and it was a solid performance.

“I thought the match would be more physical but when both serve well it’s difficult to get into a rhythm with short points.”

Sinner has endured a frustrating start to 2026, failing to reach a single final prior to this event, but was inspired as he attempts to correct that record.

It was in the first set where the mental damage was done as the Italian, who has won seven of their 11 meetings, dropped just four points on serve and broke twice.

Zverev struggled to find his rhythm on serve in the opening set and Sinner made him pay – winning six of the eight second-serve return points.

The German, 28, stood firm to save three break points in the opening service game of the second, but was ultimately broken to trail 4-3 with the remainder of the match staying on serve.

Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie beat Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata in the last 16 at Indian Wells and could meet world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals.

Norrie is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament, backing up his win over sixth seed Alex de Minaur in the previous round with an impressive 6-4 6-2 victory over world number 117 Hijikata in one hour and 16 minutes.

The 30-year-old left-hander broke Hijikata’s serve in the opening game of the match and, after wrapping up the first set, broke twice more in the second to race into the last eight.

On his own serve, the 27th seed faced only one break point in the match.

Norrie has a good record at the hard-court event in California.

This is his eighth appearance in the men’s singles and it is the fourth time that he has made it to at least the quarter-final stage.

He won the title in 2021, but lost in the last eight in the following two years.

Britain’s Emma Raducanu was overpowered by sixth seed Amanda Anisimova at Indian Wells, losing 6-1 6-1 in a third-round encounter lasting only 52 minutes.

In an ominous sign of the struggle to come, Raducanu was broken in the opening game.

It quickly became apparent the 25th seed had no answer to the American’s determined approach, and the first set ran away from her with just 11 points won.

The second immediately took on a similar pattern with Raducanu finding herself three games behind before managing to hold her serve.

Having enlisted Mark Petchey as a temporary coach after parting with Francisco Roig in January, Raducanu last week said she had been hoping to rediscover her “natural way of playing” in an attempt to build towards the form that saw her claim the 2021 US Open.

But there was to be no reprieve, as Anisimova impressively took a further three games to progress.

The performance marked a stark contrast to Raducanu’s second-round match, a comprehensive 6-1 6-3 victory over Russian Anastasia Zakharova.

Speaking on court afterwards, Anisimova said she had been “just trying to go out there and have fun” and “be fearless”.

Norrie, who won the Indian Wells title in 2021, will play Australian world number six Alex de Minaur in the last 32.

“I have been having an amazing preparation,” said Norrie.

“I got here with time – a lot of time – so I’ve been practising really really well against all types of players, and the weather’s been unreal, so good vibes all around.”

World number one Carlos Alcaraz was a 6-2 6-3 winner against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, while five-time Indian Wells champion Novak Djokovic beat Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 4-6 6-1 6-2 to also reach the third round.

Spaniard Alcaraz won the Australian Open this year to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, and has won all 13 of his matches in 2026.

“I played great,” he said. “The conditions weren’t easy – a lot of wind today.”

Serb Djokovic, playing for the first time since losing the Australian Open final to Alcaraz, said: “I knew that the first match in such a long time will be a little bit tricky.

“I felt like I had to find my A-game when it was most needed, particularly the beginning of the third.”

The early rounds of the BNP Paribas Open began Wednesday, with top seeds slated to start play Friday during the 12-day ATP and WTPA Master 1000 tournament.

A busy stretch of the tennis season reaches another gear at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the second-largest outdoor tennis stadium in the world.

While many consider it the “fifth Grand Slam” because of its elite player field, amenities and equal prize money for men and women, professionals acknowledge the tournament is part of a stressful stretch on the tennis calendar.

Indian Wells is followed by the Miami Open, another two-week Master 1000 tournament. The tour stops are known as the “Sunshine Double.”

Some players made the short trip from Indian Wells to Las Vegas this past weekend to participate in the MGM Grand Slam, an exhibition designed to help players ramp up for back-to-back tournaments.

American Reilly Opelka, a 6-foot–11 pro, said managing fatigue after a series of tournaments before hitting Indian Wells has altered his practice and play in exhibition matches, including a loss to 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca in Las Vegas.

“Normally in any kind of competition, you get excited and play with a pressure point … but you don’t feel this when you are practicing,” Opelka said.

“I was trying to feel like this a few days ago while practicing with … [Tommy Paul,] but instead we got tired and hungry. … That usually doesn’t happen. We just decided to stop and go to eat somewhere.”

Paul said despite the decision to cut practice short, he feels fresh for the upcoming events.

“I started the year pretty well and for Americans, we are excited for the Sunshine Double,” Paul said.

Casper Rudd lost to Opelka during the first round of the Las Vegas exhibition. The Norwegian also lost a week ago during the first round of the Acapulco Open, falling to Chinese qualifier Yibing Wu in straight sets.

Rudd said he felt “extremely tired” after the Australian Open in January.

Rancho Palo Verdes resident Taylor Fritz, ranked No. 7 in the world, said the best way to prepare for the grueling tour schedule is “putting [in] the time, work and repetition.”

“… Be there, be focused on the quality that you are doing,” said Fritz, a 28-year-old who won the Indian Wells title in 2022.

While some players are guarding against burnout, others struggled to even reach California. Some players who live in Dubai, including Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, have to contend with closed airspace triggered by the U.S. and Israel bombing Iran.

The ATP announced Wednesday that, “the vast majority of players who were in Dubai have successfully departed today on selected flights.”