Sabalenka defeats Sakatsume in 100th match as World No. 1
Aryna Sabalenka has had fairly the week up to now in Tennis Paradise. From getting a new puppy, Ashto have fun her (*1*)the one factor that might make the journey to Indian Wells much more memorable is a deep run on the BNP Paribas Open.
Indian Wells: Scores | Draws | Order of play
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka opened her marketing campaign on the 2026 BNP Paribas Open with a 6-4, 6-2 win over qualifier Himeno Sakatsume, advancing comfortably into the third spherical.
The victory got here in Sabalenka’s 100th profession match as the top-ranked participant on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. She will subsequent face Jaqueline Cristian, who saved three match factors towards Maya Joint, for a spot in the Round of 16.
“Super happy with the level I played,” Sabalenka advised press. “Super happy to get this win. I haven’t played for a while after Australian Open, and happy with the performance today.”
By the numbers, this is the highest storylines behind Sabalenka’s opening match at Indian Wells:
3: The distinction in Friday’s match was Sabalenka’s three breaks of Sakatsume’s serve. After Sakatsume received the coin toss electing to serve, Sabalenka broke the opening earlier than the 2 traded holds the remainder of the primary set. In the second set, Sabalenka added two extra breaks to shut out the match.
10: Friday’s match marked Sakatsume’s 10th profession tour-level foremost draw match, following her win over Alycia Parks in the primary spherical. The Japan native made her tour-level debut on the WTA 250 in Granby, Canada, in 2022.
24: Sabalenka’s energy actually shined, particularly on her serve. Because of Sakatsume’s brief stature, Sabalenka took benefit of his wing span, typically forcing Sakatsume side-to-side.
The tactic created area for a few of her 24 winners. Sakatsume additionally notched 12 winners of his personal, together with a number of on the internet, creating a difficult check for the top-seeded Sabalenka.
28: Sabalenka received 80% of her first service factors (28-of-35), touchdown almost 78% of her first serves in play.
71: In the straight-sets win, Sabalenka wanted 1 hour and 11 minutes to safe the victory.
82: Sabalenka improved her report to 82-18 as World No. 1. She first acquired the highest rating in September 2023 for eight weeks, earlier than reclaiming it in October 2024 — she’s held the highest rating since.
135: In the PIF WTA Rankings, Sakatsume sits 135 locations behind Sabalenka at No. 136. This time final yr, she was ranked No. 270, taking part in at W75 in Trnava, Slovakia.
