Emma Raducanu crashes out of Indian Wells in straight sets to Aryna Sabalenka

There are few experiences as valuable to a tennis player as staring at one of the best and seeing exactly where his level drops. For Emma Raducanu, that opportunity came in the face of Aryna Sabalenka, now a multiple Grand Slam champion and desperate for more.

Placed on the hot seat against a Sabalenka in full flow, Raducanu gave a powerful account of both her quality and resilience in two competitive sets before Sabalenka’s sheer strength, weight of shot and her intent to dominate every ball sent the No. 2 seed to fourth place. round in Indian Wells with a tough 6-3, 7-5 victory.

Raducanu has started the week defending much of the remaining points in her rankings and leaves after putting together her most positive week of the year as she continues to search for rhythm and confidence following surgery on both hands and an ankle last year. However, she has yet to defeat a top 10 opponent, her record is now 0-6 against the elite.

In her opening round against qualifier Rebeka Masarova, Raducanu was solid enough and in her second round against 30th seed Dayana Yastremska, she started well before the Ukrainian retired with stomach pains while trailing 4-0 in the opening set.

But facing Sabalenka is a huge step forward, both in terms of the quality and intensity required to perform at such a high level, and in terms of mental strength. Even against Peyton Stearns on Saturday, when Sabalenka faced three match points on her opponent’s serve, she still managed to play those four points on her terms before turning the match around.

Raducanu started well and played two decent service games to get used to the match. But when Sabalenka found her range and rhythm off the ground, virtually every point on her racket was decided. The contrast between their shot weight and power was stark. Each time Raducanu missed her first serve, Sabalenka destroyed her second and the winners flowed freely.

Even when she was down 2-5 and 15-40, with the set pulling away quickly, Raducanu fought hard. Finding the first serve, she trusted herself to get the ball early and redirect some of Sabalenka’s awesome power, and after holding serve, she returned brilliantly to generate four break points in Sabalenka’s subsequent service game. Raducanu clearly put Sabalenka under pressure and almost got back into the set, but the No. 2 showed her quality by saving her best serve and shotmaking for the decisive points to close the set.

While Sabalenka quickly broke serve to take a 3-2 lead in the second set behind a more dominant shot, Raducanu similarly dug deep. She returned brilliantly and as more errors flew from the Sabalenka racket, Raducanu was given more space to move within the baseline, get the ball early and impose himself on Sabalenka.

Throughout the second set, the duo went toe-to-toe with Raducanu looking increasingly comfortable from the baseline. But Sabalenka is playing the best tennis of her life these days, full of confidence and inner conviction, and when she needed her best, she found it and finished Raducanu in two tight sets.

Elsewhere, in her last match as a teenager, US Open champion Coco Gauff reached the fourth round with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory over Lucia Bronzetti and overnight Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki, both former No. 1s, grand slam champions and now mothers, both reached the fourth round, where they will play each other and rekindle their old rivalry.

On the men’s side, Cameron Norrie was narrowly defeated by the resurgent Gaël Monfils after just over three hours, with the Frenchman reaching the fourth round with a 6-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory. At 37 years old, Monfils will likely return to the top 50 as the oldest player next week.