Aryna Sabalenka avenged her Australian Open final defeat to Madison Keys in ruthless fashion as she booked her place in the BNP Paribas Open final.
The world number one raced to a 6-0 6-1 victory to set up a final against teenager Mirra Andreeva after the ninth seed continued her winning run against Iga Swiatek.
Keys claimed her first grand slam title with victory over Sabalenka in January, but the American fifth seed never looked like repeating that success in Indian Wells as she made 21 errors.
The 2025 #TennisParadise champion will be...✍️
— wta (@WTA) March 15, 2025
Aryna Sabalenka or Mirra Andreeva? 👀 pic.twitter.com/jNCUpWxJQS
Sabalenka needed just 51 minutes to complete the win in chilly, blustery conditions, Keys holding serve late in the second set to avoid a whitewash.
“I wish I would play like that in Australia,” said Sabalenka, who admitted she had needed time to recover from that defeat and was looking forward to taking on Andreeva.
“It feels like an old mama playing against a kid. Oh my God, I’m nine years older than her.”
Andreeva, who became the youngest winner of a WTA 1000 event in Dubai last month, beat defending champion Swiatek 7-6 1-6 6-3.
The 17-year-old won her 11th straight match – two of them against the world number two, who has lost all five of her semi-final appearances since winning the French Open last June.
A tight first set went Andreeva’s way as she conceded a single point in the tie break, but Swiatek raced through the second set with a trio of breaks.
But she was unable to continue her dominance, Andreeva completing the victory in two hours and 17 minutes with her third break of the third set.
“I don’t know why I felt so much confidence and I felt like I’m gonna go and play the tie break like it’s the last tie break of my life,” Andreeva said. “So I just went for all my shots.
” My serve was great, and, you know, just felt super comfortable and super confident during the tie break. I kind of played on a roll.”
