Indian Wells, March 13 (IANS) Elina Svitolina earned a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win in 2 hours and 9 minutes to send World No 2 Iga Swiatek packing and reach her second Indian Wells semifinal and first since 2019.

After splitting sets with Swiatek, the third set was a tightly contested shootout that went with serve until the No. 9-seeded Ukrainian broke for 5-4. She swiftly served out the match to earn her second win against the Pole in six meetings.

The victory was Svitolina’s 11th career win against players ranked inside the Top 2, and her first such triumph since defeating Swiatek at Wimbledon in 2023.

With the victory, Svitolina earned just her second win over the current World No. 2 in six meetings at the WTA Tour level, having last defeated her at Wimbledon in 2023. Since 2016, when she upset Serena Williams at the Rio Olympics.

Only Elena Rybakina (14) has earned more wins over Top 2 players than Svitolina (11). The result also marks her tour-leading 19th win of 2026, WTA reports.

In the semifinals, she’ll face Rybakina, who ended Jessica Pegula’s run of seven straight semifinals with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory. Svitolina is 3-3 against Rybakina and won their most recent meeting, in Madrid last season, in straight sets.

With Rybakina joining a semifinal quartet that also includes Aryna Sabalenka in the top half, a rematch of this year’s Australian Open final is still in play.

Earlier, No. 1 seed Sabalenka came through a marquee encounter with No. 10 seed Victoria Mboko, advancing 7-6(0), 6-4 to her third career semifinal at the tournament.

The World No. 1 has now reached six consecutive semifinals on the WTA Tour; her last loss before that round was in the Cincinnati quarterfinals last August to Rybakina.

Sabalenka’s quest for a first Indian Wells title will continue against No. 14 seed Linda Noskova, who defeated qualifier Talia Gibson 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

–IANS

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