Top seed and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka defeated former No. 1 Naomi Osaka at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells Tuesday, in the pair’s first tennis match since a 2018 clash at the U.S. Open.
“That’s actually crazy,” Sabalenka, 27, said after winning 6-2, 6-4. “For so many years on tour, we only played once. I’m pretty sure we’re going to play many more matches. She’s coming back, she’s playing great tennis — of course. I’m super happy with the result today, much better than the last time we played.”
Osaka won their 2018 match in the fourth round of the U.S. Open, though neither won the tournament that year. Osaka, from Japan, has won four majors, the same total as Sabalenka.
“I’m super happy with the performance today, the way I brought variety on court, that I made her guess most of the times, and of course happy with the serves, so I felt like it was a great performance for me,” Sabalenka said.
Also Tuesday, Australian Talia Gibson outlasted Jasmine Paolini of Italy, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
Tuesday’s other women’s matches pitted sixth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova against Canada’s Victoria Mboko and Alexandra Eala from the Philippines against Linda Nosková of Czechia.
Tuesday’s men’s draw saw France’s Arthur Fils upset Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-3, 7-6. Fils is seeded 30th, while Auger-Aliassime was seeded ninth. Fils will play Thursday against Alexander Zverev of Germany, who beat American Frances Tiafoe, 6-3, 6-4.
Tuesday’s other men’s matches feature American Learner Tien of Irvine taking on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich. The 20-year-old Tien is seeded 25th at Indian Wells and is currently the 27th-ranked men’s player in the world, while Davidovich is seeded 18th, and is 19th in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) men’s singles rankings.
The evening match pits No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy against Brazil’s Joao Fonseca.
No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz survived a scare against France’s Arthur Rinderknech on Monday, winning 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
The word’s No. 1 ranked male player expressed his appreciation for the vocal support of fans at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “Every time we warm up, every time we go to the practice court or the players’ lawn, in this case I’m just feeling really loved here. I love it here in Indian Wells. I love the people, I love the vibe, I love everything here at Indian Wells.”
Alcaraz will face 13th-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Also Monday, defending champion Mirra Andreeva of Russia, who was seeded eighth, was knocked out of the draw by Katerina Siniakova of Czechia on Monday, losing 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.
It was a fiery exit for the 18-year-old Andreeva, who threw her racket and appeared to curse at the crowd on her way off the court.
“I can say that there were a lot of emotions that I was going through after the loss. But of course I’m not really proud of how I managed it. I’m not really proud of how I handled it in the end,” she said in a news conference after the match.
“Those are the things that really need to work on soon. I don’t know. Not in the future but whenever I get the chance.”
Andreeva said she was not necessarily angry at the fans.
“It was to myself, to everyone, basically. I mean, after the loss, I just get very angry, so I say those things sometimes to myself. I mean, first to myself, of course, but then, yeah, it was just anger coming out, just a lot of emotions. Not really towards anyone.”
The tournament concludes Sunday. More information can be found at bnpparibasopen.com.