For the 33-year-old Koolhoff, it will be his first final at the Indian Wells Masters, which is his fifth Grand Slam tournament. He reached the quarter-finals last year, but never made it past the second round.

In the final battle, Koolhoff and Skopsky will compete against India’s Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden from Australia. They were too strong for John Isner and Jack Sock in their two stints.

Koolhoff and Skupski are both aiming to win their first title of the year. Last year they won no less than seven tournaments, including three Masters tournaments.

Novak Djokovic should also miss the Masters in Miami over the next two weeks. The world’s No. 1 is still banned from entering the United States because he has not been vaccinated against the coronavirus. Miami is no exception to this.

“We tried to exclude Djokovic, but it wasn’t possible,” tournament director James Blake told Tennis Channel. “We did everything we could. We tried to talk to the government because it wasn’t up to us. We are one of the biggest leagues in the world and we want to have the best players.”

Elena Rybakina stunned Iga Swiatek in the semifinals of Indian Wells. The world No. 10 was too strong for the current MVP at 6-2, 6-2. The match lasted only 1 hour and 16 minutes.

The 23-year-old Rybakina beat Poland’s Swiatek at the Australian Open earlier this year, going 6-4, 6-4. Rybakina eventually reached the final in Melbourne, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in three sets.

Sabalenka herself is also her final fight opponent in Indian Wells. Sabalenka beat Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-2 6-3 in California.

Swathik and Skari were finalists last year.