Double desert delight: Sinner and Sabalenka win 1st Indian Wells titles

New Delhi: Jannik Sinner beat Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells final 7-6(6) 7-6 (4), winning seven straight points to rally from a 4-0 deficit in the second-set tiebreak and claim the title without dropping a single set.

The No. 2-ranked Italian beat Medvedev for the ninth time in their last 10 matches to claim his first title at the California desert tournament. Medvedev handed top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz his first loss of the year in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka beat Elena Rybakina 3-6 6-3 7-6(6) in the women’s final Sunday for her first Indian Wells title. Sabalenka, a runner-up in 2023 and ‘25, finished off the win 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.

“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 in a post-match interview on the Tennis Channel.