Aryna Sabalenka takes sarcastic dig at her team while congratulating Mirra Andreeva and her staff for the Indian Wells title win

Aryna Sabalenka has now lost her second consecutive final on the WTA tour after earlier loss in the Australian Open final.

Aryna Sabalenka takes sarcastic dig at her team while congratulating Mirra Andreeva and her staff for the Indian Wells title win

Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka (via X)

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered another final defeat on Sunday, March 17. This time, she lost in the Indian Wells final against Mirra Andreeva. The Belarusian was the favorite, especially after avenging her Australian Open final loss to Madison Keys in the semifinals.

However, Andreeva played better and secured the win. During the post-match ceremony, Sabalenka showed her personality by making indirect jokes about her team. She sarcastically said that Andreeva’s team was better than hers, which made the audience laugh.

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Congrats on having a great team. If I had the same team you have at your age, I’d probably be a better player by now. Don’t look at my team. I have the best team right now. I mean before!

Aryna Sabalenka said in her post-match interview

This is not the first time Sabalenka has made such remarks after a loss. After the Australian Open final earlier this year, she made similar comments about her team.

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Sabalenka has not won another title since her victory at the Brisbane International in 2025. Besides reaching the Australian Open final, she had early exits in Dubai and Qatar.

Mirra Andreeva claims historic Indian Wells title

World No. 11 Mirra Andreeva won her second straight WTA 1000 title by defeating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the BNP Paribas Open final. This victory marks another big achievement for the 17-year-old rising star.

Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka (via X)
Mirra Andreeva and Aryna Sabalenka (via X)

Andreeva fought back from a set down to secure her 12th consecutive win. Last month, she claimed her first WTA 1000 title in Dubai. She is now the youngest player to achieve 12 straight WTA 1000 wins since the format began in 2009.

She is also the youngest player in 40 years to defeat both the World No. 1 and No. 2 in the same tournament. In the semifinals, she stopped Iga Swiatek from defending her title, beating her for the second time in a row.

Indian Wells is Andreeva’s third career title and second of the season. Two of her three titles are now at the WTA 1000 level. She will rise to a career-high ranking of No. 6 on Monday. Andreeva is also the season’s tour leader in wins with 19.

Mirra Andreeva hands another major blow to Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek will lose points in the race for world No. 1 after her loss to Mirra Andreeva in the Indian Wells semi-final. She was defeated 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3 by the ninth seed. This was her second loss to the 17-year-old, having also been beaten in Dubai last month.

Mirra Andreeva Iga Swiatek
Mirra Andreeva and Iga Swiatek (via X)

Swiatek’s defeat ended her 10-match winning streak in Indian Wells. It also stopped her from defending her title and becoming the first woman to win the tournament three times. Andreeva, meanwhile, has reached a career-high ranking of No. 8. She moved up to No. 6 after winning the final against Aryna Sabalenka.

Before the tournament, Sabalenka had 9,076 ranking points, while Swiatek had 7,985. Swiatek needed a strong result to close the gap. Since she failed to defend her title, Swiatek will lose 610 points. Her new total will be 7,375 when the rankings update on Monday.