Date Posted

Sabalenka, Sinner crowned Indian Wells Champions for the first time

Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Sabalenka and Sinner, have clinched their first Indian Wells tennis titles
Top seed, Aryna Sabalenka, and second seeded Italian, Jannik Sinner, have clinched their first Indian Wells tennis titles in California.
Sinner beat 11th seed, Daniil Medvedev in two tie-break sets in the men’s final, while Sabalenka defeated third seed, Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, in a three-set thriller.
Sinner was in fine form against Medvedev, who stunned top seeded Spaniard, Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals.
The Italian was eager to bag his first title of the year, while Medvedev was looking for his first Indian Wells title after losing two previous finals.
Although the Italian ultimately prevailed in two tiebreak sets, Medvedev gave it all he got.
But Sinner finished with 28 winners and 10 aces and won eight out of eight net points.
The 24-year-old became the youngest man to complete the set of hard-court trophies.
These include the Australian and United States Open crowns, and six Masters titles.
Earlier, Sabalenka finally got the better of Rybakina in a final to clinch her first Indian Wells title.
The Australian Open champion clinched the first set 6-3, before Sabalenka bounced back to take the second 6-3 as well.
The match would go all the way to a third-set decider, which also turned out to be a nail-biter.
Sabalenka survived a match point and finally clinched it 8-6 in the tie-breaker.
After losing in two previous finals, Sabalenka finally got her hands on the trophy, her 23rd Tour title.
The focus will now shift to the Miami Open, which gets underway on Thursday.
It is the second and final tournament which forms part of the so-called Sunshine Double on the American hard-court swing.
–SABC–