WALDRON GRAIN & FUEL

03/12 19:44 CDT Sabalenka and Sinner advance in straight sets to the semifinals at Indian Wells Sabalenka and Sinner advance in straight sets to the semifinals at Indian Wells INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) --- Aryna Sabalenka held off Victoria Mboko, 7-6 (0), 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, keeping the top-ranked player in women's tennis in the running for her first title at Indian Wells. After winning every point in the first-set tiebreaker, Sabalenka got the one break she needed to win the second set and move on to the semifinals against 14th seed Linda Noskova of Czechia, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 winner over unseeded Australian Talia Gibson. Also moving on to the semifinals for just the second time at Indian Wells was ninth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who knocked off second-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Svitolina broke to go up 5-4 in the third set and held serve for the match. She was slated to play Friday against the winner of Thursday night's quarterfinal match between American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan. In the men's draw, second-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy defeated 25th-seeded American Learner Tien, 6-1, 6-2, ending the run of the youngest American --- at age 20 --- to play in a quarterfinal at Indian Wells since his coach, Michael Chang, won the tournament in 1992. Sinner, who served 10 aces and double-faulted only once, will play his semifinal match on Saturday against German Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over France's Arthur Fils. Sabalenka hasn't lost a set in the tournament, but was pushed by the 10th-seeded Mboko, a 19-year-old Canadian who won the 2025 Canadian Open --- and whom Sabalenka defeated 6-1, 7-6 (1) in the fourth round of the Australian Open earlier this year. Mboko was "serving much better than she did in that match in Australia --- definitely a bit more confident and was playing more brave," Sabalenka said. "I think that's why the scoreboard was bit closer than in Australia." Sabalenka put 94% of her first serves in play and was not broken, but did have to fight off five break points. "That was a tough battle today," Sabalenka said. "Happy with the level I played in those key moments in each set. "I was focused on my game plan. I was just playing point by point," Sabalenka said. "I'm pretty happy with the way I'm serving so far." ___ AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis