Aryna Sabalenka gives injury update ahead of Emma Raducanu clash at Indian Wells

Aryna Sabalenka admits she was worried that she may have picked up a serious injury when she rolled her ankle during her win over Peyton Stearns.

Reigning Australian Open champion Sabalenka found herself staring down the barrel against Stearns in the second round on Saturday as the American had four match points in the third set.

After breaking to lead 5-4 in the decider, Stearns found herself 40-0 up on serve yet it was Sabalenka who came away with the 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).

What made the world No 2’s win even more impressive was the fact that she rolled her ankle during the encounter and initially thought that was that in terms of her tournament, but luckily it was just a twist.

“It was bad in [the] first seconds, but then slowly it was getting better and I felt like, okay, I’m ready to play. But in that moment when they twisted a little bit, I thought, oh, God, what did I do wrong? It’s happening to me,” she explained.

“But I was trying, this is just the proof that I was trying so hard to get to every ball and to put every ball back. Yeah, but now I feel okay. We’ll see tomorrow. But I have a great team, and I’m pretty sure they will take care of it so for the next match I will be ready.”

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Sabalenka will face Emma Raducanu for a place in the quarter-final after the 2021 US Open winner advanced when Dayana Yastremska retired with an abdominal injury with the Brit leading the match 4-0.

It will be a first-ever meeting between the two and they have had contrasting fortunes over the past two years with Sabalenka winning back-to-back Australian Open titles while Raducanu has played only a handful of matches due to poor form and injuries.

But will Sabalenka be fit to take to the court on Monday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden?

“I would say I have a lot of experience [when it comes to] twisting my ankle and I know the way how to get out of that and not get injured,” the Belarusian added.

“And that’s why I like my shoes, because I have a good control on my feet there. I think right before that, like, really crazy twist I was able to kind of let it go, and kind of, like, save myself.

“So I feel like it should be okay.”