No.131 Katie Volynets earned the biggest win of her career by ranking after ousting No.6 Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open. 

Having defeated Mirra Andreeva in the first round, the 22-year-old American wild card has now won back-to-back matches at a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time in her career. The win over Jabeur is the second Top 10 win of her career, notching her first over Veronika Kudermetova at the 2023 Australian Open. 

Volynets will face former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the third round. 

Volynets' superior court coverage and baseline solidity gave her the edge in her first meeting with Jabeur. Though her ranking dropped outside the Top 100 in January, Volynets has quietly enjoyed a solid start to the season. She has made one tour-level quarterfinal in Hua Hin and two semifinals at the WTA 125 level.

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"I'm so honored to have a wild card here and I'm so honored to play Ons," Volynets said on court. "I've been watching her on TV for years so it's just such an honor to play here on this court against such a wonderful player."

Imbued with confidence after her 7-5, 7-5 win over Andreeva in the first round, Volynets took advantage of Jabeur's dip in form to ease to another straight-set win. The Tunisian has been nursing a knee injury, which has contributed to her slow start to the 2024 season. She came into Indian Wells with a 2-3 record and looking for her first win over a Top 100 player.

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Jabeur was able to build a 4-2 lead in the opening set but her unwillingness to patiently work points would prove her undoing. Volynets played solidly from the baseline and capitalized on Jabeur's tendency to rush the points and yield errors.  Volynets stormed back to win four straight games to take the first set. 

While the first set featured five breaks of serve, only one break of serve decided the second set. At 3-3, Volynets broke at 15 and maintained her poise to close out the match after 1 hour and 22 minutes. 

"I'm definitely pleased with how I was able to execute today," Volynets said. "I think it was very close the entire time. She was throwing in some amazing drop shots and slices and injecting some pace. I'm glad I was able to overcome that."