Top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland won the BNP Paribas Open women’s singles final Sunday, beating ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 6-0, winning the final eight games of the 68-minute match.
Swiatek broke Sakkari’s serve five times and lost only five points in the second set. Swiatek won all six of her matches in straight sets en route to her second BNP Paribas Open title, losing just 21 games overall.
Swiatek earned $1.1 million for her second Women’s Tennis Association tournament victory of the year and 19th of her career. She also won the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in February.
Sakkari received $585,000. She was seeking her third WTA title and first since the Guadalajara Open in September.
Swiatek has been first in the WTA singles rankings since Nov. 6. Sakkari is ranked ninth.
The victory improved Swiatek’s record in singles play at the BNP Paribas Open to 18-2. Her .900 winning percentage is the best in the history of the Indian Wells’ women’s event, which was first held in 1989, surpassing Steffi Graf’s .895.
It was a rematch of the 2022 BNP Paribas Open women’s final, also won by Swiatek, 6-4, 6-1, and the first meeting between the two since then. The women have split their six career matches.
The men’s final was set to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, with second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz seeking to complete a successful defense of his BNP Paribas Open singles title when he faces fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The Spaniard advanced to the final Saturday with a rain-interrupted 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over third-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy, while Medvedev was a 1-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 winner over 17th-seeded American Tommy Paul in Saturday’s second semifinal.
Sinner took a 2-1 lead, then rain stopped play for three hours. Sinner won the first four games after resumption of play to win the set.
Alcaraz saved break points at both 4-2 and 5-3 in the second set to even the match.
Alcaraz lost the opening game of the third set, then won the next five. Sinner held serve in the seventh game, then Alcaraz held serve in the eighth, winning the match on the third match point.
“I stayed strong mentally,” Alcaraz said after ending Sinner’s 19-match winning streak, which included winning the Australian Open. “I think that’s a really important part in this game. You have to be strong mentally if you want to overcome these kind of matches, a set down against someone that’s playing an unbelievable game. I’m really happy with the things that I’ve done after that.
“I changed my style a little bit, I changed my game a little bit and I think it worked very well. I’m really happy to beat Jannik and be in the final again.”
The victory evened the series at 4-4, including a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory by Alcaraz in a semifinal of last year’s BNP Paribas Open.
In the second semifinal, Medvedev fell behind 4-0 and had his serve broken in all three of his service games in the first set.
The Russian took a 4-0 lead in the second set. Paul appeared to twist his ankle on the sixth point of the tiebreaker and lost the next four points after that as Medvedev closed out the set.
Paul had his ankle re-taped before the third set, then fell behind 4-1. He had two break points at both 4-1 and 5-2, but Medvedev was able hold serve both times.
“It was very tough,” Medvedev said after his third victory over Paul in their three meetings. “When it’s evening and cold here, it’s very tough to go through the serve. I understood that, and he played an unbelievable first set. So I was like, OK, if I want to win I just have to try to do a little bit better to find the shot that’s going to make him in trouble. I found some, especially on my serve.
“Then the match started to be a long fight. Even in the third set, it was 6-2, but it was very, very long games and I think it was a long set. So I’m really happy to be able to pull this out.”
Alcaraz defeated Medvedev, 6-3, 6-2, in last year’s final, one of four meetings between the two in 2023, with Alcaraz winning three times, losing only in a U.S. Open semifinal. Alcaraz also lost the first meeting between the two, in the second round of Wimbledon in 2021 and has a 3-2 all-time advantage.
This is the second time in the tournament’s history that the same men have met in the final in consecutive years. The other time was in 2014 and 2015 when Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer on both occasions.
Alcaraz is the tournament’s first defending men’s champion to reach the final since Federer in 2017. He is seeking to be the first man to win at least two BNP Paribas Open singles titles in a row since Djokovic won three straight from 2014-16.
The victory snapped a four-match semifinal losing streak for Alcaraz. This is the first time he has reached a final since the Cincinnati Open in August.