By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, March 17, 2023
World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka broke serve five times defeating Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3 to charge into her maiden Indian Wells final and improve to 17-1 in 2023.
Photo credit: Robert Prange/Getty
Aryna Sabalenka knows all about complexities of closure.
Today, the Australian Open champion showed fierce finishing power to charge into her maiden Indian Wells final.
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The second-seeded Sabalenka converted five of 10 break points defeating 2022 finalist Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3 streaking into the BNP Paribas Open final.
Sabalenka improved to 17-1 on the season advancing to her fourth final in her last five tournaments.
"It's a great win," Sabalenka told Tennis Channel's Prakash Amritraj said afterward. "I really wanted to get this one after that tough loss in the [WTA] Finals against her. I'm super happy with my performance today and super happy to get this win."
It wasn't Sabalenka's best tennis of the week, but it was still good enough.
The big-hitting Belarusian blasted the Sakkari serve winning 20 of 26 points played on the Greek's second serve.
The victory vaults Sabalenka into her 21st career final where she will face either world No. 1 Iga Swiatek or Wimbledon winner and 10th seed Elena Rybakina for the title.
Sabalenka, who beat Sakkari for the fifth time in eight meetings, is playing for her 13th career championship, including her third title of the season.