Great Britain's Katie Boulter out of Indian Wells after straight-sets defeat to Elena Rybakina in third round
Katie Boulter out of Indian Wells after 6-0 7-5 defeat to seventh seed Elena Rybakina; British No 1 served for the second set at 5-4; defending women's champion Iga Swiatek breezes into round four; watch tournament live on Sky Sports until March 16
Monday 10 March 2025 06:46, UK
British No 1 Katie Boulter is out of Indian Wells after a 6-0 7-5 defeat to seventh seed Elena Rybakina in the third round.
Rybakina won 80 per cent of points on her first serve and struck 13 winners to Boulter's two in a one-sided 26-minute first set in which she converted three of her five break points.
Boulter finally got on the board in the second game of the second set before breaking for the first time at 3-3 but she was broken back serving for the set at 5-4 and then lost serve again as Rybakina clinched victory with a third straight game.
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Rybakina is still seeking a first title of 2025, with her best results so far runs to the semi-finals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where she lost to Belinda Bencic and Mirra Andreeva respectively.
The Kazakh, who missed last year's tournament due to an illness, will play ninth-seeded teenager Mirra Andreeva in a rematch of their Dubai semi-final, which the Russian won in three sets en route to becoming the youngest player to win a WTA 1000 title.
Andreeva is coached by former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, who the 17-year-old said was keeping her focused.
"She already told me that she booked a court at 12pm," she told reporters after her night match. "I see not much time passed from the match... she's just like this, but it's not bad."
Elsewhere, second seed Iga Swiatek maintained her push for back-to-back Indian Wells titles and a third in four years with a 6-0 6-2 thumping of Dayana Yastremska.
"At the end I got a bit tired, it's always hard to finish a match like that but I'm happy that I kept my intensity up in the last game to close it," she said.
"I had control from the beginning so I'm happy with the performance for sure."
The five-time major champion has not won a title since her triumph at Roland Garros in 2024, her longest drought since winning her first major title in 2020.
The Pole will meet 15th seed Karolina Muchova in the last 16 after the latter beat fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova 7-6 6-1.
Ukrainian Elina Svitolina upset 14th seed Danielle Collins 6-2 6-4 and will face another American, fourth seed Jessica Pegula in the next round after she breezed past China's Wang Xinyu 6-2 6-1.
Svitolina's countrywoman Marta Kostyuk beat American wildcard Caroline Dolehide 6-3 6-3.
Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as the US Open, live on Sky Sports in 2025 or stream with NOW and on the Sky Sports app.
