INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — After a near-death experience in her first outing at the BNP Paribas Open, Aryna Sabalenka sent home Emma Raducanu on Monday by the seemingly comfortable score of 6-3, 7-5.
Was it relaxing by comparison?
“Not really,” the No.2-seeded Sabalenka told reporters afterward. “I wish it would be like that — you saved a couple of match points and you’re done until the end of the week. In this tough situation like today in the last game, I was telling myself, `Listen, you came back after such a tough score, you can handle this one.’”
Sabalenka converted on her fourth match point and advanced to Wednesday’s Round of 16 match against No.23 Emma Navarro, who was a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 winner over No.16 Elina Svitolina.
Navarro, the 2021 NCAA singles champion for the University of Virginia, is now 17-5 this season and tied for the most wins on tour. She won the title in Hobart and reached semifinals in Auckland and San Diego. She and Sabalenka have never played. A win would give the 22-year-old her first Top 5 win and second Top 10
“I just told her, `Come on, you could just avoid that warning. It wasn’t that bad,’ ” Sabalenka explained. “Yes, there was one specific word, but I didn’t [say it] to [my opponent].”
Sabalenka was quick to laugh about it off now. She’s moving forward again in the tournament in which she reached the final a year ago.
Here’s a look at the three other fourth-round matches from the bottom half of the draw that will deliver the quarterfinalists:
“I didn’t know that,” Gauff said, smiling. “Tennis has these stats, man.”
Said Mertens, “I think I have to work on my own game and see how far I can go instead of seeing, OK, what is she doing all the time? Of course I know a little bit how she plays already. I think the goal is just to improve myself.”
