Elena Rybakina extends Top 10 winning streak with victory over Svitolina at Indian Wells

Elena Rybakina outslugged Elina Svitolina in the semifinals of Indian Wells on Friday night, 7-5, 6-4, and given her recent record against the biggest names, it should have come as no surprise.

She's now won her last 12 matches in a row against Top 10 players, a stretch that dates back five months, to mid-October last year.

The Kazakh's last loss to a Top 10 player came in early October, to No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals of Wuhan—and the two will meet again in the final here this Sunday, after Sabalenka defeated Linda Noskova in the first semifinal of the day, 6-3, 6-4.

ELENA RYBAKINA VS TOP 10 PLAYERS SINCE MID-OCTOBER 2025: 12-0

• d. No. 8 Paolini in '25 Ningbo SFs, 6-3, 6-2
• d. No. 10 Alexandrova in '25 Ningbo F, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
• d. No. 4 Anisimova in '25 WTA Finals RR, 6-3, 6-1
• d. No. 2 Swiatek in '25 WTA Finals RR, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0
• d. No. 10 Alexandrova in '25 WTA Finals RR, 6-4, 6-4
• d. No. 5 Pegula in '25 WTA Finals SFs, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
• d. No. 1 Sabalenka in '25 WTA Finals F, 6-3, 7-6 (0)
• d. No. 2 Swiatek in '26 Australian Open QFs, 7-5, 6-1
• d. No. 6 Pegula in '26 Australian Open SFs, 6-3, 7-6 (7)
• d. No. 1 Sabalenka in '26 Australian Open F, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
• d. No. 5 Pegula in '26 Indian Wells QFs, 6-1, 7-6 (4)
• d. No. 9 Svitolina in '26 Indian Wells SFs, 7-5, 6-4

The Rybakina-Svitolina head-to-head going into Friday night was 3-3, and there were signs Svitolina might pull off the upset—not only had she won their last meeting, on the clay of Madrid last year, but she had won the pair’s only previous hard-court meeting as well, in the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

And Svitolina came out strong in this one, holding and breaking for an early 2-0 lead, but Rybakina got the break right back, and after the two traded holds for a while, the Kazakh caught fire, reeling off seven games in a row to go from 4-5 in the first set to 7-5, 4-0.

Then, after a pair of holds, Rybakina found herself up 5-1.

But that’s when there was one last twist.

Svitolina fought off a match point in that game to hold and close in to 5-2, then saved another match point in the next game, breaking Rybakina to close in to 5-3. She then held easily to make it 5-4.

The comeback was cut short there, though, as Rybakina played an almost flawless service game to close it out, ripping four winners—two off the forehand, one off the backhand, and finally a backhand volley winner into the open court on her third and final match point.

“Elina is a fighter, and it’s always tough matches against her,” Rybakina said after the match. “I started a bit slow tonight, then in the second set got the lead after some unforced errors from Elina, and everything changed very quickly. I cannot be super happy with my performance today, I definitely need to get better for the final, but I’m super happy that in the end I managed to win.”

Sabalenka leads Rybakina in their head-to-head series, 8-7, but that could easily be 8-7 in Rybakina’s favor, as the Kazakh held quadruple match point in their quarterfinal match on the grass courts of Berlin last summer, leading 6-2 in the third set tie-break before ultimately losing that one, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6).

Rybakina has also won the pair’s last two meetings, as well as their only previous meeting in Indian Wells, edging the world No. 1 in the 2023 final here in a tight two-setter, 7-6 (11), 6-4.

And though they’re currently ranked No. 1 and No. 3, they’ll be the Top 2 players on the WTA rankings after the tournament, as Rybakina will rise to a new career-high of No. 2 on Monday no matter what happens on Championship Sunday.