Aryna Sabalenka crowned champion at MGM Rewards Slam, defeats Naomi Osaka in Las Vegas pre Indian Wells exhibition
WTA
Aryna Sabalenka made sure that even though the men's MGM Rewards Slam was postponed that those who attended the Saturday would get a spectacle as she saw off Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-4 in the pre Indian Wells exhibition.
Sabalenka was playing in Las Vegas in the exhibition which was shown on streaming platform DAZN on Saturday. The opening night saw Andre Agassi team with Sabalenka and it was Mardy Fish for Osaka.
The former team sealed the win 10-8 in an exciting doubles game in which Jaz Agassi, the daughter of two legendary tennis stars in her father and Steffi Graf stole the show showing support for her superstar pair.
Beyond the doubles match came the singles in which Sabalenka produced underarm serves and even let the ball kids play a point sitting on court together. Truly the epitome of exhibition tennis as they seriously played at times and other times saw the pair joke around.
It is perhaps a far cry from last year though when Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz played out a match known as the Netflix Slam in the city. Trying to recreate that, they had perhaps a perfect line-up.
But it was thrown into chaos as one of the main reasons for attending in Jannik Sinner had to withdraw suddenly due to his three month ban. Casper Ruud replaced him but the exhibition was promptly shelved by organisers.
It is very much a theme of Indian Wells with Carlos Alcaraz and Frances Tiafoe playing tonight in the 'Battle of the Legends' in Puerto Rico. In addition there is the Eisenhower Cup which is the yearly Indian Wells pre-cursor. It sees players team up and the Tie Break Tens format is used.
Among those signed up are Madison Keys, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek as well as power couples such as Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas and Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur.
Swiatek gets to team with her compatriot Hubert Hurkacz, while the same can be said for American pairings in Keys and Tommy Paul as well as Emma Navarro and Ben Shelton. Taylor Fritz teams with Elena Rybakina. While Jasmine Paolini is set to join forces with fellow Italian, Lorenzo Musetti.
The Desert Smash will also take place on March 3-4 also including Sabalenka and Osaka as well as Nick Kyrgios and Ons Jabeur. So very much busy for all of the top names and it all started Saturday for Sabalenka and Osaka.
Aryna Sabalenka defeats Naomi Osaka 6-4,6-4 at the Vegas exhibition....
— Liviefromparis 🇫🇷🤸🏼♀️🎾 (@Livieparis2024) March 2, 2025
Now onto Indian Wells 😤😤😤 pic.twitter.com/7OeTGh9agH
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