“The level is there, Emma Raducanu can play some great tennis” – Aryna Sabalenka praises Brit after beating her in Indian Wells 3R

Aryna Sabalenka spoke highly of Emma Raducanu after defeating the Brit in a third-round battle at the Indian Wells 2024 on Monday, March 11.

This was Sabalenka's first-ever matchup against Raducanu and she didn't disappoint. She began the proceedings steadily and secured the opening set in 37 minutes with a solitary break on Raducanu's serve.

Raducanu, however, posed a greater challenge to the Belarusian in the second set. Sabalenka broke her in the fifth game but she immediately reverted with a serve to stay on serve.

But the reigning Australian Open champion eventually managed to break Raducanu's armor in the 11th game and then held her own serve to close the match at 6-3, 7-5 in her favor.

After the match, Sabalenka acknowledged Raducanu's effort stating the Brit is capable of producing great performances.

"I know that the level is there, and she [Emma Raducanu] can play some great tennis. But on those key moments, I was focusing on myself and things what I have to do on court to be in this match, and I think it's worked well," Aryna Sabalenka said during her post-match press conference at Indian Wells.

Raducanu returned to on-court action in January this year following an eight-month-long absence due to multiple surgeries. She has notably been inconsistent since competing at the ASB Classic as she carried a 3-4 win/loss record for the year before setting foot in Indian Wells.

During the press conference, a journalist asked Aryna Sabalenka if the Brit's form influenced her mindset in any manner.

"I wasn't thinking about that at all, to be honest. I'm happy that I'm able to focus on myself during these tough moments. She's an incredible player and she played great tennis today, even though she didn't play much matches in the past couple of months," Sabalenka replied.

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Aryna Sabalenka to play either Elina Svitolina or Emma Navarro in Indian Wells 4R

Aryna Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka will next lock horns with the winner of the third-round clash between Ukraine's Elina Svitolina and the USA's Emma Navarro at the Indian Wells 2024.

Notably, she has never played against Navarro on the WTA Tour before. Whereas against Svitolina, she enjoys a slim lead of 2-1 in their head-to-head account.

The second seed first faced Svitolina in the year 2018 at the Wuhan Open and earned a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 win. Svitolina, however, responded strongly and defeated Sabalenka 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at the Internationaux de Strasbourg 2020.

Sabalenka prevailed in their latest meeting in the quarterfinals of the French Open 2023. She defeated the Ukrainian 6-4, 6-4.