Aryna Sabalenka managed to overcome Emma Raducanu in a tightly-contested battle at the Cincinnati Open on Monday (August 11).
The world no. 1 triumphed 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) in the Round of 32 contest that lasted over three hours in the sweltering Cincinnati heat.
Sabalenka's latest win is her second in a short space of time against Raducanu, as the pair met in the third round of Wimbledon recently.
Failure to carry out the upset victory means Raducanu is still yet to beat the three-time Grand Slam winner, trailing 3-0 in the head-to-head between them.
Raducanu raced off to a fast start against the top seed, landing a break in her opponent's first service game, before Sabalenka immediately broke back. The two stars exchanged further breaks before the world no. 1 clinched the set on a tiebreak.
Both players held serve better in the second set, but the British no. 1 managed to find the crucial break in the seventh game and soon forced a deciding set.
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A gruelling 90-minute third set followed, as both players exhausted high levels of energy on the court.
Both held serve before the tie-break, but it took a plenty of effort on Raducanu's end to maintain this as she saved four break points in an astonishing 23-minute eighth game that went to deuce 13 times.
Sabalenka then demonstrated why she is the world's top ranked player as she came up clutch in another tiebreak to secure victory over the 30th seed.
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Incredibly, Sabalenka has now won 18 tiebreakers this season, which is a record for the most on the WTA Tour in a season.
Raducanu and Sabalenka's reaction to their three-hour battle
Deespite being on the losing end of Monday's epic showdown, Raducanu took some positives from her hard-fought display against Sabalenka at the Masters 1000 event.
"She's world no. 1 for a reason. I pushed her more than I did at Wimbledon, so that's that's an improvement," the 22-year-old said in her post-match press conference.
"It was good to have this result on a hard court because it's very different to grass, and I've always thought grass suits me a lot more. So to have pushed her on a hard court like that, I'm proud."
Sabalenka showed admiration for her opponent post-match, commenting: "She's such an incredible player. Every time she's improving. I'm happy to see that, and I'm enjoying fighting against her."
The 27-year-old also reflected on the tough nature of her match against the 2021 US Open champion.
"I'm happy to get through this difficult match. Three hours and 10 minutes. I really hope that tomorrow is a day off, otherwise I won't be able to recover after such a great battle."
Sabalenka will indeed get a day of rest as she is scheduled to face unseeded Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the Round of 16 on Wednesday (August 13).
Raducanu will now place her full attention on being ready for the US Open later this month.
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