“What a week” says Aryna Sabalenka following Indian Wells triumph
The world no.1 celebrates her first win at Indian Wells
Aryna Sabalenka has enjoyed quite a memorable week, with the Belarusian star celebrating her engagement, welcoming a new puppy, and lifting the title at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The 27-year-old showed off her engagement ring and even had a moment on court with her new puppy after beating Elena Rybakina in California on Sunday.
Sabalenka couldn’t contain her smile whilst addressing the Indian Wells crowd on court following the trophy ceremony at Sunday’s final.
“What a week,” she said. “Getting a puppy, getting engaged and winning a title, I will definitely remember it for the rest of my life.
"This is truly tennis paradise and I'm always happy to come here. Thank God I finally got this trophy.”
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Sabalenka who had to play at the top of her game against her fierce rival Rybakina.
The Russian started strongly and took the opening set 6–3, using her powerful serve and aggressive baseline play to put the world No. 1 under pressure.
Sabalenka responded well in the second set, raising her level and playing more consistently from the baseline. She found momentum when she broke Rybakina’s serve and took the set 6–3, forcing the match into a deciding third set.
In what was an extremely competitive final set, the match was ultimately decided in a tense tie-break.
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.
The 27-year-old's resilience paid off as she kept fighting before winning the breaker 8–6 to seal a 3–6, 6–3, 7–6 victory.
Sabalenka, who was runner-up in both 2023 and 2025, sealed her victory with a powerful serve that Rybakina returned to long.
The win gave Sabalenka her first Indian Wells title and her 10th WTA 1000 crown, ending a run of previous final losses at the tournament.
"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.
"You have to get a win with incredible tennis and that was the whole idea going into this one. I'm happy that it really worked."
