Ruthless Aryna Sabalenka storms past Madison Keys, 6-0, 6-1, in semifinals of Indian Wells

Aryna Sabalenka was on a revenge mission against Madison Keys in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Friday night, having lost to her in the final of the Australian Open earlier this year.

And this time she was absolutely ruthless.

The world No. 1 stormed past her Melbourne conqueror in just 51 minutes, 6-0, 6-1, in front of a stunned crowd, to move comfortably through to the final of the WTA 1000-level tournament.

"I didn't expect this match to be that fast, to be honest, but I'm super happy with the way I played today," she said afterwards.

"And yeah, much-needed revenge. I'm super happy to get this win against Madison—what an amazing season so far she's having, and I hope to play many more matches against her."

Sabalenka finished with 14 winners to 10 unforced errors and converted five of six break points. Meanwhile, Keys had 10 winners to 18 unforced errors, with one break point—but she didn't convert.

Final points count: Sabalenka 53, Keys 27.

Keys had won her last 16 matches in a row going into Friday night's contest, a streak that not only included her run to the Australian Open title, but also her run to the Adelaide title the week before that.

With the win, Sabalenka added to some very impressive numbers.

First of all, she's through to the 34th WTA final of her career. She has a winning 18-15 record in the first 33 of those title matches.

Secondly, she's through to the 11th WTA 1000 final of her career. She has a winning record in the first 10 of those, too, going 7-3.

It's also going to be the second Indian Wells final of her career. She made the final here in 2023, finishing runner-up to Elena Rybakina.

And last but certainly not least, a big milestone—her victory over the No. 5-ranked Keys was her 20th career win over a Top 5 player.

Awaiting the No. 1-ranked Sabalenka in the final on Sunday will be the world No. 11, Mirra Andreeva, who took out No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek in the first semifinal match of the day, 7-6 (1), 1-6, 6-3.

Sabalenka leads Andreeva in their head-to-head, 4-1, with the one loss coming in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros last year. But she's already 2-0 against her so far this year with dominant straight-set victories at Brisbane and the Australian Open in January.

"That's crazy what she's capable at such a young age. It's impressive to see," Sabalenka said of the 17-year-old Andreeva.

"We've played a couple of matches already. It's going to be a great match, and I'm really looking forward to facing this teenager.

"It kind of feels like old mama playing against a kid, you know!"