INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The two sterling, statuesque Australian Open trophies sit side by side in the home of Yulia Sabalenka.
Being a typical mother, she’s eagerly awaiting — actively lobbying for, to be honest — a third piece of Grand Slam hardware.
“She calls them twins,” Aryna Sabalenka told reporters earlier this week at the BNP Paribas Open. “She said, ‘We need to have a different type. It looks boring when you have just two of the same ones. Can you just work on the other Slams?’”
Sabalenka’s response: “Thanks for that. You couldn’t just appreciate these two — it was difficult to get.”
Since winning back-to-back titles in Melbourne, the World No.2 has found the going, well, difficult. She lost her only match in the Middle East, to Donna Vekic in Dubai, and survived a monumental slog here in the desert on Saturday night against Peyton Stearns.
With Stearns serving for the match at 5-4 in the third, Sabalenka saved four match points. Eventually, she converted her fourth match point and collected a heart-stopping 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(6) win.
“This match definitely goes into the book of craziest matches and the best matches of my career,” Sabalenka said afterward.
On Monday, she faces Emma Raducanu, who arrived in the third round in far easier fashion. The 21-year-old from Great Britain was leading Dayana Yastremska 4-0 when she retired with an abdominal injury.
Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion as a teenager, is mounting a comeback after undergoing three separate surgeries — on her right ankle and both wrists. She’s 5-4 after an eight-month absence and has won back-to-back matches for the first time. She and Sabalenka have never played, but this is a big step up for the Hologic WTA Tour’s No.250-ranked player.
Since Sabalenka’s first win in a WTA Tour 1000 event, at Indian Wells in 2018, no one has won more WTA 1000 matches than her total of 81. Moreover, Sabalenka has won 15 straight matches against opponents ranked outside the Top 50.
Raducanu has never won a match against a Top 10 player, losing to Iga Swiatek twice, as well as Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Ons Jabeur. A win would send her to the BNP Paribas Open Round of 16 for the second time.
Sabalenka, 25, said it took her about a week to process her second Grand Slam. It felt a little different, she added, than the first.
“Last year … everything was new for me,” she said. “This year I was the defending champion and I kind of knew what to expect, which kinds of emotions to expect in the last stages of the tournament, for example. So I would say I was more ready and like it wasn’t that much emotional that I was able to defend my title.
“Still, it’s an amazing moment.”
Sabalenka — and her mother, of course — are hoping for a few more major, trophy hoisting moments; she’s reached at least the semifinals eight times in the past 10 Grand Slams she’s played.
Monday’s card, eight third-round matches from the bottom half of the draw, offer plenty of marquee action. Here’s a brief look:
No.3 Coco Gauff vs. Lucia Bronzetti
Like Sabalenka, Gauff took it down to the wire in her second-round match. Down 4-0 in the third set, Gauff came back Saturday to defeat Clara Burel 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).
Afterward, Gauff was hoping it was a harbinger of success going forward.
