A single break of service and a completely lopsided tiebreaker were all that Aryna Sabalenka needed Thursday to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.

Sabalenka, the No. 1 seed in Indian Wells this year but looking for her first win at the BNP Paribas Open, took out 19-year-old Victoria Mboko of Canada 7-6 (0), 6-4 on Stadium 1 Thursday in a match that was perhaps closer than even the score indicated.

Mboko, looking for her second consecutive trip to a WTA 1000 finals this year, went toe to toe and stroke to stroke with Sabalenka for the first set, surviving her own serving issues along the way. But Sabalenka dominated the tiebreaker 7-0, hitting brilliant returns and taking advantage of Mboko’s mistakes.

The second set was just as close as the first, with the only break of serve coming in the fifth game with Sabalenka taking a 3-2 lead and then holding serve the rest of the match to move into the semifinals. It is Sabalenka’s third trip to the semifinals at Indian Wells, where she reached the finals in 2023 and 2025 before falling.

“It was a tough battle today. Super happy with the performance,” Sabalenka said. “Happy the level I played on those key moments in each set, and of course happy to be through this difficult round.”

Known for her prowess in tiebreakers, Sabalenka said she didn’t really change her mind set to produce the 7-0 score in the first-set tiebreaker.

“I’m not really thinking about the record that I have,” she said. “I just try to play point by point, trying to stick to the game plan and stay aggressive, and then basically, yeah, take it one step at a time.”

“I’m aggressive. I’m not thinking about this is tiebreak,” Sabalenka added. “I’m just focusing on my game, and I think that’s been really the key.”

For Mboko, her debut in Indian Wells was a success, but that didn’t take away the sting of the close loss to the women’s game’s top player.

“It was a really fun week. It’s my first time playing here, so not that many expectations for myself,” Mboko said. “Aryna played really great tennis today, and I could leave the court today just with a lesson more than a loss.”

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Still, Mboko felt like she had her chances against the No. 1 ranked player.

“I had a lot of chances in the first set. And, I mean, it’s unfortunate that I was unable to kind of take them as much as I could, but she was playing really well, especially on pressure points,” Mboko said. “I gotta give credit to her there.”

The match was the second time Sabalenka and Mboko have played this year, with the first also producing a Sabalenka win and a lopsided tiebreaker. That came in the round of 16 at the Australian Open with a 6-1, 7-6 (1) win for the Belarus star. Sabalenka said she saw improvement in the game of Mboko, who she said after the match could be a future Grand Slam winner.

“Definitely, big improvement. I think she was serving much better than she did in that match in Australia,” Sabalenka said. “Definitely built more confident and was playing more brave. I think that’s why the scoreboard was a bit closer than in Australia. Definitely I see the big progress.”

As for her own game, Sabalenka jokes that at 27, she has to hold the flag for the older generation against the up-and-coming crop of teenagers and players in their early 20s. That includes Sabalenka’s semifinal opponent, 21-year-old Linda Noskova.

“I think all of those young kids who’s on tour right now, they all have a huge potential to be Grand Slam champions,” Sabalenka said. “I just see how aggressive (Mboko) is, how passionate she is, how much she’s fighting on court and never giving up. I see this as a future Grand Slam champion, for sure.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Aryna Sabalenka tops Victoria Mboko at BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells