Ten women have won the Indian Wells women’s singles title twice. But no woman has ever won it three times. Thanks to Elina Svitolina’s 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over 2022 and 2024 champion Iga Swiatek in Stadium 2 on Thursday, that stat will remain intact for at least another year.

Swiatek has gone 23-3 in the California desert since the start of 2022, but she couldn't put her punishing game on display as she was broken five times and really never found her best form from the backcourt.

Svitolina reached her second semifinal in the California desert, and her first since 2019, to increase her tour-leading 2026 win total to 19 (19-3 on the season).

The 31-year-old Svitolina started the season on a 10-match winning streak before losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open semifinals, and her blistering tennis has continued in Southern California with her third Top 5 win of the season.

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.

Last month in Dubai, Svitolina made her first WTA 1000 final since 2018. She’ll bid to reach another against either Elena Rybakina or Jessica Pegula in semifinal action on Sunday.

Rybakina powers through

Streamlined tennis, thunderous groundstrokes, rocket serving. That’s the calling card of Kazakhstan’s Rybakina. The 2023 champion delivered all that and more on Thursday evening as she took out No. 5-ranked American Pegula 6-1, 7-6(4) to reach her second semifinal. 

Ryabkina’s relentless aggression put constant pressure on the Buffalo, N.Y. native in the contest, but it wasn’t all one-way traffic. 

Credit the crafty American for nearly turning things around in the second set. Pegula was up a break briefly and went toe-to-toe with the two-time grand slam champion for much of the stanza.

In the tiebreak, Rybakina stood tall and finished off her eighth consecutive Top 10 victory, and fourth of 2026. 

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.