Two of the most in-form players on the WTA Tour will collide in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open as Jessica Pegula faces Elena Rybakina. We could see a fascinating contest between two top-10 players who will face off in a rematch of their Australian Open semifinal.
Jessica Pegula vs. Elena Rybakina Match Details
Date: March 12, 2026
Tournament: BNP Paribas Open 2026
Round: Quarterfinals
Venue: Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California, USA
Surface: Outdoor hard
Category: WTA 1000
Live Telecast: Tennis Channel, Sky Sports, TSN, TVA
Pegula vs. Rybakina Head-to-Head
This will be the eighth meeting between these two players, and Rybakina narrowly leads the head-to-head with four wins to her name against Pegula.
Rybakina defeated Pegula in straight sets en route to the Australian Open title earlier this year. She also won in three sets when they met in the WTA Finals semifinals last year.
But Pegula is in sublime form at the moment and has made at least the semifinals at each of the last seven events she has competed in. She also goes into this match on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run and has already beaten two seeded players in Jelena Ostapenko and Belinda Bencic at Indian Wells.
Rybakina holds a 15-3 win-loss record in 2026 and has enjoyed a slightly less grueling route to the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals. She needed three sets to defeat Hailey Baptiste in her opener, but breezed past Marta Kostyuk in the third round and was in control against Sonay Kartal in the Round of 16 when the Briton was forced to retire in the second set due to injury.
Pegula vs. Rybakina Prediction
The world No. 3 has been consistently solid on her serve this year and also leads the WTA Tour for aces in 2026. She will certainly fancy her chances of defeating Pegula, having won three of the last four matches between the two.
Pegula has enjoyed an excellent start to the season and will be eager to continue that run on Thursday. While she has never made it past the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open, she is in career-best form and will be backed by the home crowd at Indian Wells.
Rybakina is already an Indian Wells champion, having won the title here in 2023. She will have her sights set on repeating that feat again this year and will be the favorite to win in what should be a tight quarterfinal that could well go down to three sets.
Make sure to use PFSN’s Tennis Simulator to predict all matches at the 2026 BNP Paribas Open.
Pick: Rybakina to win in three sets.
