'Magic happened to me': Aryna Sabalenka saves four match points to beat unseeded American at Indian Wells
Tennis doesn’t get much better than it did on Saturday evening at the BNP Paribas Open.
On Stadium Court, Aryna Sabalenka saved four match points in her first match this year at Indian Wells to beat unseeded American Peyton Stearns, 6-7(7), 6-2, 7-6(6), and avoid what surely would have been the biggest upset of the first weekend of the tournament.
“She said at the net, “I actually had you,’” Sabalenka said. “She was right. I was just a little bit lucky probably to get this win.”
After Sabalenka saved the four match points in the third set to even the score, Stearns went up a break to take a 6-5 lead with an opportunity to serve out the match. But even playing with a sore left ankle and a limp, Sabalenka wasn’t ready to call it quits.
With the 16,100-seat Stadium 1 mostly packed, and the crowd reacting to every point, the Belarusian tennis star prevented the 22-year-old American from serving out the match and forced a tiebreak. Sabalenka and Stearns took turns fist pumping through the roars in the crowd and the back-and-forth nature of a match that had the feel and intensity of a tournament final.
In the tiebreak, Stearns scored the first point but after a Sabalenka run it was Stearns who needed to then save three match points. With the score 6-6, Sabalenka scored the next two points to secure the win. She stretched her arms toward the sky in relief as the crowd rose to its feet with applause.
"It was super high-level match," Sabalenka said. "She played incredible tennis. I kept telling myself, 'Stay there, fight for every point. You never know what's going to happen. Probably this is the match for crazy comeback,' and I did it.
"I'm super happy that I didn't give up on that score, and I was really pushing myself hard, even though I didn't play my best tennis and she was crushing it like crazy. I was just like trying to stay in the game and keep fighting for every point.
"This match definitely goes into the book of craziest matches and the best matches of my career."
Sabalenka, 25, said that while she twisted her left ankle in the match, it began to feel better as the match went on. After the match, she said that she feels fine, but added, "We'll see tomorrow."
Sabalenka reached the final at Indian Wells last year and won the 2024 Australian Open in January for the second Grand Slam title of her career. She entered the draw this week at Indian Wells among the favorites to capture the Masters 1000 title.
She'll now play fellow Grand Slam champion Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, a wild card at this event, in her next match.
If Sabalenka ends up winning this tournament, or even goes on a run, she'll have to look back at the grit and determination she had Saturday as a big reason for it.
“I had to work super hard to get this win,” Sabalenka said. “It’s definitely a magic place and magic happened to me. I have no words right now. I don’t know what it say. It’s crazy. I wanted to win this match to come back and enjoy this atmosphere at least one more time.”
Andrew John covers the BNP Paribas Open for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Aryna Sabalenka saves four match points in best match so far at Indian Wells
