Svitolina Dismantles Sabalenka in Three Sets, Ending the World No. 2's Season on a Flat Note

Elina Svitolina broke Sabalenka six times and won the decider 6-1 to reach the WTA Finals semis — her first win over the Belarusian in six years. The handshake refusal continued.

Elina Svitolina beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 at the WTA Finals in Indian Wells on Friday, ending the world number two's season and reaching the semifinals where she will face Linda Noskova. Svitolina broke Sabalenka six times across the match and sealed the win — her first over Sabalenka in more than six years — with a forehand winner on her fourth match point. The result improved Svitolina's head-to-head record to 2-6. The third set was a demolition. After losing the opening game, Svitolina reeled off six consecutive, exposing Sabalenka's inability to reset after the momentum swing of the second set. "It was a bit of a roller-coaster match," Svitolina told reporters. "I was really happy with the way I could come back in the third after losing the first game." The tactical story was clear: Svitolina absorbed and redirected Sabalenka's raw power rather than trying to match it. Svitolina again declined to shake hands with Sabalenka after the match, maintaining her policy of not doing so with Russian and Belarusian players following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It is one of the most visible ongoing political gestures in women's tennis and has become a persistent subplot to every Svitolina match against players from those nations. The loss capped a frustrating second half of 2025 for Sabalenka. She started the year brilliantly — winning Brisbane International in January, then sweeping Indian Wells and the Miami Open in March to complete the Sunshine Double — but did not claim another title after that. She also surrendered the world number one ranking to Elena Rybakina at the US Open. Sabalenka had entered the season finale as one of the favorites after Rybakina withdrew on the eve of the tournament due to illness. She declined to speak to the media after Friday's loss. In the day's other match, 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva continued her outstanding debut at the Finals with a 6-2, 6-1 win over fellow Russian Diana Shnaider, who replaced Karolina Muchova after her withdrawal with a gastrointestinal illness. Andreeva had already secured her semifinal spot and will face Jessica Pegula on Saturday. She has won all three of her round-robin matches in straight sets. The tournament backdrop is itself a story. The eight-day, $10 million WTA Finals was relocated from Riyadh to Indian Wells Tennis Garden due to the United States-Israeli war on Iran. The event will move to Charlotte starting next year. The geopolitical disruption that forced the relocation — and the war-driven no-handshake policy Svitolina maintains — are reminders that professional tennis never operates in a vacuum, even when the tennis itself is the main event. Svitolina, the 2018 WTA Finals champion, faces Noskova on Saturday for a place in the final. Andreeva meets Pegula in the other semifinal. The tournament's final weekend will test whether Svitolina's tactical maturity and Andreeva's teenage fearlessness can carry them further.