Aryna Sabalenka Shines Like A Diamond In Tennis Paradise

Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

INDIAN WELLS/WASHINGTON, March 9, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has been wearing a 12-carat engagement ring on her right hand, both on and off the court, at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells this week as she blazes a trail toward next Sunday’s title match.

Set in platinum and adorned with emerald stones, Sabalenka’s extra accessory stands out along with her vibrant and warm-toned Nike color palette on the tennis court. It looks like a comfortable fit – and Sabalenka has sparkled on Stadium 1 through her first two victories that has advanced her into the round of 16 in the California palm desert.

On Sunday, Sabalenka defeated No. 35 Jaqueline Cristian of Romania, 6-4, 6-1, in one hour and 11 minutes for her 13th victory in 14 outings this season. She’s already won one WTA Tour title this season (Brisbane) and looks locked in to win another this week. During her post-match news conference, she called her latest triumph a “great match.”

Sabalenka added: “So many good things I felt like I did great today. Serving well, happy with the way I stayed focused no matter what. Yeah, of course, happy with the win.”

The 27-year-old, two-time Indian Wells runner-up from Belarus won 86 percent of her first-serve points, hit 23 winners, converted four of six break points and outpointed Cristian 59-37. Next, Sabalenka will face 2018 Indian Wells champ and this year’s No. 16 seed Naomi Osaka of Japan in the fourth round on Tuesday.

During her post-match news conference Friday, after defeating 135th-ranked qualifier Himeno Sakatsume of Japan, 6-4, 6-2, Sabalenka was asked about wearing her engagement ring while playing.

“We double-checked if there is a possibility to lose the diamond, and there is none, so I was pretty confident wearing this ring, and it feels comfy, feels shiny,” the top-seeded Sabalenka said.

Then, she quipped: “I hope that my opponent will get distracted with this diamond and it’s going to benefit me.”

In the lead-up to Indian Wells, Sabalenka announced her engagement to her longtime boyfriend, Georgios Frangulis. She shared images of her glamorous ring on social media and been flashing it all around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden grounds.

Sabalenka said Friday that her engagement came as a surprise – although she had been nudging Frangulis for months to pop the question. When the moment of truth came, the reigning US Open champion said that happened without warning or a chance for her to glam herself. 

“I saw Georgios and I was crying half of the time, because I thought that I looked ugly, not prepared, and this is such a beautiful moment,” Sabalenka admitted, describing the scene after she arrived at the house Franguilis rented for the tournament. “I stopped everything, and I asked the videographer and the photographer to make sure that my face is not there, just the ring, and, I don’t know, side views and from the back, just so you guys wouldn’t be shocked by the way I looked.”

Looking back, Sabalenka added: “Yeah, it was a beautiful moment. I was surprised even though I kind of like knew, had a feeling that it’s going to happen here. But he still managed to do a surprise. Yeah, it was a special moment.”

After traveling the world together, why here, why now? “It’s Tennis Paradise,” said Sabalenka, smiling.

News & noteworthy

It’s been quite a remarkable week for World No. 11 Daniil Medvedev. A week after winning the ATP Masters 1000 title at Dubai via walkover, when finalist Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands was unable to play the title match due to injury, Medvedev won his opening match at Indian Wells over No. 40 Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, 6-4, 6-2, late Saturday evening to advance to Monday’s third round against No. 53 Sebastian Baez of Argentina.

However, unlike most players who arrived in the California palm desert with several days – even a week – to prepare for their first match, the Russian No. 1 was stranded in Dubai with no easy way out, when the U.S. and Israeli launched air strikes against Iran. When Dubai was hit by retaliatory strikes, it closed the emirate’s airport for several days.

“Yeah, I mean, usually you have, what is it, four, five days to prepare here, if you play well in Dubai, or even Acapulco,” Medvedev said Saturday during his post-match news conference. “So here I had three days, which it’s not bad. It’s not like I had one day and I had to play. So three days is not bad. It’s somewhere in the limit, because 12-hour time difference with Dubai, and our travel was tougher than just a direct flight from Dubai to Los Angeles.

“But I honestly felt great today, so it means that the jet lag is done, and made a good job, I slept well, and looking forward to next matches being 100 percent even if I was already today.”

So, just how did Medvedev manage to get from Dubai to Indian Wells? It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure.

“Yeah, it was not easy to decide what to do, because that was a little bit the toughest part,” Medvedev explained.

“At one moment we were texting a lot with Andrey [Rublev] and Karen [Khachanov], for sure. So me and Andrey decided let’s go to Oman, let’s try to find something there.

“It was not easy to find, because everyone was trying to leave, and there were not a lot of slots to leave or planes to leave. But we managed find a plane.

“So, Karen joined us, and the next day we managed to fly to Istanbul, and then Istanbul to Los Angeles. It was just longer and a bit more stressful in terms of logistics than usual. So a lot of time on the phone, which drains you a lot, trying not to be on my phone 24/7, and when you are, it’s tiring physically.

“So as I say, just a bit more tired physically coming here than usual, but I managed to deal well with it.”

Around the Indian Wells Tennis Garden

• World No. 2 Jannik Sinner of Italy took on Canada’s Denis Shapovalov Sunday afternoon, meeting for the third time, and it was all Sinner. The 24-year-old No. 2 seed aimed to reach his fifth Indian Wells fourth round in as many appearances, while the 39th-ranked Shapovalov sought his first Top 10 win outdoors since defeating No. 4 Rafael Nadal in 2022 at Rome. By the end of their 71-minute third-round tussle on Stadium 1, Sinner was ahead on the scoreboard, 6-3, 6-2, and also outpointed Shapovalov 62-37. He won 85 percent (28 of 33) of his first-serve points, struck 14 winners, made just 11 unforced errors and converted four of eight break points.

“Denis is a high-quality player, as we know,” Sinner said during his on-court interview. “He’s an in-form player, so I’m very happy with my performance. I tried to stay solid at the baseline, but also a bit more aggressive in the second set, which helped me. It was a tough start for me, but I’m happy with how I reacted.”

Next, Sinner will face either No. 23 seed Tommy Paul of the United States or No. 35 Joao Fonseca of Brazil, who played late Sunday night, in the fourth round.

• No. 2 American Ben Shelton had been on a 20-3 tear on North American soil – highlighted by his ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto last August – until taking on fellow lefty No. 25 seed Learner Tien in an all-American battle on Stadium 1. Shelton, the highest-ranked left-handed player in the current PIF ATP Rankings at No. 8, fell to Tien, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, in two hours and nine minutes. It was Tien’s second career win over Shelton in two meetings. This time, he fired 15 aces, won 82 percent (58 of 71) of his first-serve points, struck 40 winners, broke Shelton’s serve once and outpointed his opponent 108-98. 

“It’s great. It’s great,” Tien said in his on-court interview, after advancing to the fourth round of an ATP Masters 1000 for the first time. “I just want to say, Ben came out not feeling 100 per cent. I don’t think he’s been feeling great all week, but he’s an amazing competitor and he came out and gave it his all. So, I just want to say, huge props to him. 

“I’m super happy to be in the fourth round. Especially here, it’s extra special.”

Next, Tien will play No. 18 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, who went the distance to beat No. 12 seed Jakob Mensik of Czechia, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

• World No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany brought a 5-0 head-to-head lead into his third-round match with 30th-ranked Brandon Nakashima of the United States, as the 24-year-old American sought the biggest win of his career. Meanwhile, Zverev looked to reach the Indian Wells fourth round for the fifth time in his career, 10 years after first achieving the feat in 2016 – and he did just that, winning 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4, in two hours and 31 minutes. Zverev became the first player to record 100 ATP Masters 1000 wins this decade. He did it by hitting 15 aces, winning 81 percent (62 of 77) of his first-serve points and outpointed Nakashima 105-101.

• No. 16 seed Naomi Osaka won her first WTA Title at Indian Wells in 2018 and all seven of her WTA Tour crowns have been garnered on hard courts, most recently at the 2021 Australian Open. The Japanese superstar brought a 3-1 record against opponents ranked outside the Top 50 into her third-round match against No. 61 Camila Osorio of Colombia, the first Colombian woman to make it to the Indian Wells third round since 2005, and was pushed to three sets before prevailing 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, in one hour and 39 minutes on Stadium 2. Osaka, who outpointed Osorio 86-66, will face top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round.

• World No. 6 Amanda Anisimova of the United States has already made a quarterfinal run to the Australian Open and a semifinal run at Dubai, losing to World No. 5 Jessica Pegula both times. Now, in her seventh appearance at Indian Wells, she has equaled her best showing set in 2018 – by advancing to the fourth round – after defeating No. 24 Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, 6-1, 6-1, in 52 minutes on Stadium 2. Raducanu, who has now lost 10 straight matches to Top 10 opponents, was outpointed by Anisimova 53-21.

Sunday’s Indian Wells results

Monday’s Indian Wells order of play

By the numbers

• Since 2020, Alexander Zverev has posted the most ATP Masters 1000 wins with 100. Rounding out the Top 5: Jannik Sinner (94), Daniil Medvedev (92), and Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas (85 each).

• With his 96th ATP Masters 1000 victory Sunday, Jannik Sinner has drawn level with Fabio Fognini for most wins by an Italian player since the series began in 1990.

“Quotable …”

“I was thinking about, wow, this would not be great if I lose. I was like, well, maybe I can get out of the sponsor thing I have to do tomorrow.

“My brain is kind of going, and I think I’ve played so many matches and had some really good three-set matches lately where I also was like pretty comfortable knowing that I could turn it around.

“I think I kind of flipped the switch pretty quickly. I switched, like the ball is kind of flying on me, so I switched to a tighter racquet. That kind of gave me a little bit more freedom to feel like I could go for my shots, and I think that kind of helped.

“Yeah, I think I’m just comfortable in those situations. I mean, there is always, yeah, there’s always a little bit of panic, but at the same time, I have been dealing with those matches for a while, and maybe not as much panic as it used to be.”

– World No. 5 and fifth seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, during her post-match news conference Saturday night, after ralllying to defeat 103rd-ranked wild card Donna Vekic of Croatia, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the third round against No. 26 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

 

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