Aryna Sabalenka before facing 'unknown' Brit Sonay Kartal: “We're gonna watch her game”:

Aryna Sabalenka prepares to face an unknown Sonay Kartal, a player who entered the main draw as a lucky loser. The Brit is one of only two players to reach the Round of 16 without being seeded—along with former No. 4 Belinda Bencic—and this is her first appearance in a WTA 1000 tournament.

At 23 years old, Kartal is enjoying the best moment of her career so far, and with her appearance in the 4th round, she will surely be a name to watch on the Tour. She has already secured her best ranking, at least, as World No. 63 once the tournament concludes.

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Kartal lost in the second round of qualifying to Clervie Ngounoue but managed to earn a spot in the main draw after Sloane Stephens withdrew due to a foot injury. Once in the main draw, she defeated Victoria Lepchenko (7-6, 6-2), 16th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia (6-2, 6-1), and Russian rising star Polina Kudermetova (7-5, 6-3)—the latter being a recent finalist at the WTA 500 Brisbane International earlier this year.

The World No. 83 has made a notable run in her first WTA 1000 main draw, quickly reaching the 4th round. She will face Aryna Sabalenka for the first time, the World No. 1, on the main Stadium court at Indian Wells in front of 16,000 spectators.

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Aryna Sabalenka acknowledged in a recent press conference that she doesn’t know much about Kartal’s game, but she trusts her team to analyze her before the match. “I mean, I think I’ve never played her before,” Sabalenka said. “And not like I’ve seen a lot of her matches, but I’m sure that my team will prepare some highlights of her. We’ll, yeah, watch some of her games.”

“We're gonna watch her game. I saw a little bit she played against Kudermetova today, I think, but I wasn't, like, really paying attention. I was watching from afar. And I didn't know my next opponent at that moment. But I saw some of the games, and she was playing quite decent tennis, yeah.”

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The World No. 1 has had solid performances so far in the tournament, with victories over McCartney Kessler and Lucia Bronzetti, both in straight sets. She has already surpassed her 2024 performance, where she was eliminated in the third round.

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