Indian Wells is done and dusted, with two brilliant finals unfolding on Sunday afternoon. Before all eyes turn to Miami, here’s a quick recap of some of the last week’s biggest stories in the tennis world, in case you missed them.
Last week’s tennis results
Last week saw two first-time champions crowned in Indian Wells:
- Indian Wells (ATP 1000) – Jannik Sinner beat Daniil Medvedev 7-6(6), 7-6(4)
- Indian Wells (WTA 1000) – Aryna Sabalenka beat Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6)
Sinner edged out the in-form Medvedev in Sunday’s title match, marking the first-time in the history of Masters 1000 tournaments that a player has won back-to-back titles without dropping a set. The Italian beat Dalibor Svrcina, Denis Shapovalov, Joao Fonseca, Learner Tien, and Alexander Zverev en route to the final.
For Sabalenka, her path was a touch rockier. The world No 1 navigated her way to the final without dropping a set, beating Himeno Sakatsume, Jaqueline Cristian, Naomi Osaka, Victoria Mboko and Linda Noskova. In the final, however, she lost the opening set and was made to chase the game against Rybakina. She leveled, took the third to a tiebreak, and staved off a championship point to prevail in an instant classic.
Redemption for Sabalenka – and Sinner
Both Sabalenka and Sinner’s title runs felt like significant moments for each player.
Sabalenka came into the Indian Wells final having lost a myriad of close finals in recent years. This included the Australian Open final, where she’d been 3-0 up in the third set against Rybakina. The Belarusian has clearly been the best player in the world the last two years, but her inability to play clutch tennis and close out big matches was starting to become a serious elephant in the room.
She put all of that to bed in Indian Wells. But only just – she was inches away from adding to the unclutch narrative. Sabalenka served for the match at 5-4 in the third, only to be broken. She even found herself down a match point in the breaker. Yet this time, she managed to go to a place she wasn’t able to in those previous moments. She doubled down on the power and ripped some truly magnificent strokes to get herself out of trouble, and you could see how much it meant to her when the match was over.
It was a pretty big week for Sabalenka overall – she also got engaged and got a puppy while in Indian Wells!
For Sinner, the world No 2 doesn’t struggle in pressure moments as much, but he has shown one big weakness over recent years: heat. He was saved by the bell in Australia when the Rod Laver roof closed just as he was cramping against Eliot Spizzirri, and has flagged in such conditions on several other occasions too.
Against Medvedev on Sunday, the temperature was well into the mid-30 degrees Celsius, and the tennis was as physical as it gets. Yet Sinner did not fail physically this time, and produced some of his best efforts late in the second set.
“We put in very long days of practice,” Sinner explained afterwards. “I felt very well prepared, so I was not having big issues with the weather and with the heat, which is very positive for me. It’s all part of the process we are trying to do and becoming the best possible athlete. We do definitely a lot of work in the gym and to play this level. So I’m very happy.”
Fonseca, Medvedev stocks up
While Fonseca and Medvedev were victims of Sinner’s title run, both saw their stocks rise this week with excellent performances.
For Fonseca, the Brazilian prodigy had had a very quiet start to the year, nursing a back injury then struggling on the Golden Swing. However, he burst to life in California, knocking out back-to-back top-20 players in Karen Khachanov and Tommy Paul, before playing two tight tiebreaker sets against Sinner, one of which he had three set points in. Had he been playing against virtually any other player, he’d have won that fourth-round match – so Fonseca will take plenty of confidence from that.
Medvedev, on the other hand, only continued what is now definitely a late-career resurgence. He’s now 18-4 in 2026 (and 32-8 since the start of Beijing in September), with titles in Almaty, Brisbane and Dubai, and wins over Zverev, Alex de Minaur, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jack Draper and Carlos Alcaraz. He too pushed Sinner to the brink with twin tiebreaks, and will be high on confidence heading into Miami.
Shout out to Draper and Arthur Fils as well, who will be pleased with their performances in Indian Wells too. Both are freshly returned from long injury layoffs, yet picked up wins over Djokovic and Auger-Aliassime respectively, making the quarter-finals.
Can Alcaraz bee any more lovable?
Alcaraz is already one of the most lovable players on tour. While he may not have won Indian Wells this time, he certainly won over a few more fans with some of his post-match antics.
For context, two years ago one of the Spaniard’s matches was invaded by bees, which chased him off court and stung him. Since, fans have come to Indian Wells to support him, dressed as bees. When a group offered him their costume to wear after one of his wins last week, Alcaraz couldn’t resist getting on the buzz.
Andreeva crashes out, again
Mirra Andreeva couldn’t have had a more different experience to Alcaraz, with the young Russian throwing yet another post-match tantrum in Indian Wells. After falling to Katerina Siniakova, she yelled expletives at the California crowd, causing one fan to literally clutch her pearls in an instantly-GIFable moment.
Draper x Medvedev hindrance controversy
Earlier in the week, the big talk in the tennis world was whether Medvedev was right for calling for a hindrance against Draper.
The Brit had reacted when one of Medvedev’s shots just clipped the baseline. Several strokes later – after the point was over – Medvedev asked for a video review to assess whether there was hindrance during the point. The referee ruled that Draper had done something out of the ordinary, so there was – yet Draper was adamant that Medvedev couldn’t have been hindered by his actions.
The Russian himself wasn’t so sure of the call when they met at the net afterwards, saying, “I don’t feel good about it.”
Djokovic out of Miami
Unsurprisingly, news broke on Sunday that Djokovic won’t be competing at the Miami Open. Given how deep the Serb went and how physical his match against Draper was, I expected he’d withdraw from Miami. At this stage of his career, he’s just looking to keep the engine ticking over between majors, and the reps he got in Indian Wells will be enough to sustain him until the clay season now.
Fonseca fires a warning shot at New Two
Leaving you with this footage of Fonseca literally firing a warning shot that he’s coming for Sinner and Alcaraz:
Read more about Fonseca’s racquet and gear.
Coming up this week
This week we’ve got a quick turnaround, with main draw action starting at the Miami Open on Tuesday for the women. Qualifying has been heavily impacted by rain so far, meaning things could get quite log-jammed at the start of the tournament.
Draws are released at 1pm local time on Monday for both the men’s and women’s events. I correctly tipped the women’s finalists, Sabalenka’s victory and Svitolina winning her quarter for a very tidy profit last week, so if you’re after some more juicy returns, be sure to keep an eye out for our draw analysis and best bets pieces coming out soon after the draws are announced.