Indian Wells semi-finals: Sabalenka seeks revenge on Keys

It will be Aryna Sabalenka vs Madison Keys in the semi-finals on Friday in Indian Wells. The winner will battle either Iga Swiatek or Mirra Andreeva for the title.

Aryna Sabalenka, Australian Open 2025 | © Julien Nouet / Tennis Majors

Ricky Dimon

March 14, 2025

Get your popcorn ready for the second women’s semi-final at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday evening. It will be Aryna Sabalenka going up against Madison Keys in a rematch of the 2025 Australian Open final.

Less than two months ago at Melbourne Park, Keys won a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 thriller over Sabalenka for the 30-year-old American’s first Grand Slam title. Sabalenka had previously been the two-time defending champion of the Aussie Open.

The Belarusian now gets her shot at revenge in what will be their seventh all-time meeting (Sabalenka leads the head-to-head series 4-2).

“I’m excited,” the world No 1 said during her post-match press conference after defeating Liudmila Samsonova in the Indian Wells quarter-finals on Thursday. “I’m really excited. I really hope I can do a little bit better than I did in Australia…. [The final] only coming to my mind as motivation to get back that revenge. It was tough match. She played great there. I didn’t play my best, and I’m really happy that tomorrow I will have opportunity to get this revenge back.”

It won’t be easy against a red-hot Keys.

“Coming into this tournament, I would be lying if I said that I don’t have more expectations after having the start of the year that I do,” the world No 5 explained. “But I think at the same time it’s really important for me and for my team to remember how we got there and what we were doing. And I think kind of going back to that, and staying really grounded in that, is going to be really important.

“I think the balance of being honest with my expectations rising, but also knowing that I don’t think anyone really thrives when you have such a dramatic mind shift so quickly after success. [We’re] really just trying to go back to what worked and what we were doing and what we were focusing on and continuing to try to keep that mindset.”

Both champions will go into Friday’s showdown expecting to get the job done. Only one, of course, will advance to Sunday’s final. May the best one win!