Preview Indian Wells 2026 WTA Semi-Finals | Sabalenka targets third final against Noskova with Rybakina and Svitolina going head-to-head

It is semi-final time at Indian Wells, with only two players allowed entry into the final, where they will have the chance to claim the title for themselves. A huge amount of talent has already fallen, with only the strongest surviving this long in the Californian desert. The four remaining players will look to strike decisive sucker punch blows towards their semi-final opponents in the hope that it is enough to gift them the opportunity to fight for WTA 1000 glory.

The first semi-final sees last year's runner-up Aryna Sabalenka look to reach a third final at Indian Wells, still hopeful of claiming a first title in California. That will not be easy with 21-year-old Linda Noskova enjoying a fine couple of weeks on the court, but the overall favourite will be Sabalenka.

The four-time Grand Slam champion has hugely impressed with some brilliant showings. She is regularly overpowering her opponent with some gigantic hitting and a cut-throat attitude, which has seen her get to this stage without dropping a set. In fact, she has dropped just two sets from 16 matches competed in this year. They came in the Australian Open final defeat to Elena Rybakina. Aside from that, a title triumph at the Brisbane International kicked her off in the right direction before she opted not to compete in the Middle East swing.

Back in action at Indian Wells, no one has come close to halting the ruthless Belarusian in her tracks, as she steams through with the motivation of another title and vengeance from last year's defeat to Andreeva. She went on to win the next two WTA 1000 titles after that loss, a feat that she could do again. She will be hoping so, not just from a silverware perspective, but also because there are a lot of points to defend.

Her lead at the top from Iga Swiatek, who lost in the last-eight stage, is still very large, however. She was quick to get her tournament underway, playing her first WTA match since January 31. Himeno Sakatsume went down 6-4, 6-2 before a 6-4, 6-1 win against Jaqueline Cristian, which was culminated by a hugely impressive 6-2, 6-4 win over Naomi Osaka. The Japanese talent played a very good game but was not able to make a dent on Sabalenka, who sent out an ominous statement to the rest of her title rivals. Another straight-sets win was completed over the Qatar Open finalist Victoria Mboko, winning 7-6(0), 6-4.

It has not been as dominant a run for Noskova, but she has shown real class and determination to come through some tricky matchups to reach a second WTA 1000 semi-final. The last one came a few months ago at the China Open. She successfully made it to the final before coming unstuck against an inform Amanda Anisimova.

Another final will be a very tough task indeed, with Sabalenka as tough as they get on the WTA Tour. She played her once back in 2023, losing 6-3, 7-6(4) in a valiant effort in the Adelaide International final. This proved the Czech's worth from a young age, and set up a disappointing final trend. Six finals reached, just one win.

While not at her imperious best in 2026 based off results, this run at Indian Wells is a huge boost for her, especially after failing to make it past the first round last year. Now the world number 14, she's overtaken Karolina Muchova to become the Czech number one. If she defeats Sabalenka, then she will be just five points off debuting in the top 10.

A 6-3, 6-3 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro got things off on the right foot before completing a commendable comeback against Sorana Cirstea in a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 victory. It was much simpler against Alexandra Eala, winning 6-2, 6-0 after winning the final nine games. She would then halt the fairytale run of Talia Gibson. The Aussie qualifier went into the event ranked outside the top 100 but managed to reach the quarterfinal stage. She proved to be powerless against Noskova, who booked her spot in the semi-final with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 triumph.

Swiftly following that matchup, a hugely intriguing tie between Elena Rybakina and Elina Svitolina will be played out to decide who will come up against the winner between Sabalenka and Noskova in Sunday's final.

While maybe not as inform as her Ukrainian rival based on results this year, Rybakina won her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, saving her best tennis for the big occasion in a similar manner to the WTA Finals in 2025. In both finals, she defeated Sabalenka, boosting her confidence ahead of a possible final showdown against the world number one.

She will not get ahead of herself too quickly, though. She and Svitolina have faced off on six separate occasions, each with three wins. The most recent, at the 2025 Madrid Open, went the way of Svitolina, giving Rybakina something to think about when on court. If she can get her serve going, then it will be a very hard challenge to take her down.

She began her campaign in California with a 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-2 win over Hailey Baptiste before backing it up with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Marta Kostyuk. She was afforded a bit of rest bite after Sonay Kartal retired when the Kazakh was leading 6-4, 4-3. She then prevented Jessica Pegula from reaching the semi-final stage of a tournament for the first time since the Cincinnati Open back in August. Rybakina won 6-1, 7-6(4) and reached a second final at Indian Wells, eyeing up more silverware after her triumphant run in 2023.

A second title is almost in reach, but Svitolina will do all she can to prevent the world number three from seeing that dream come true. She will be hoping to reach a first final at Indian Wells, and a second WTA 1000 final on the spin for only the second time after winning the Italian Open and Canadian Open in 2017.

Her form at the moment is among the best in the world, and that can be translated into her results. She began the year with a title at the ASB Classic before losing to Sabalenka in her first-ever Australian Open semi-final. An early exit in the Qatar Open was made up for with a run to the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, falling short in straight sets to Pegula.

Now up to wirld number eight in the live WTA rankings, she is a firm member of the top 10 and will be looking to stick around for the long term. This semi-final result will help her do that with a healthy amount of points coming in, but there is still more that she could possibly clinch. A spot in the final will see her leapfrog Jasmine Paolini into seventh in the world, but even a title will leave her a long way back form the trio of Americans ahead of her.

She was under a bit of pressure in her opening tussle against Laura Siegemund but was able to prevail 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3. A more comfortable win over Ashlyn Krueger was next on the cards, winning 6-4, 6-2. Similar to Rybakina, her last-16 match ended earlier than expected when Katerina Siniakova called it a day when trailing 6-1, 1-1. Her most recent and impressive win came against the world number two, Swiatek. She won out in a last-set decider for a first win against the Pole since 2023, winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.