Sonay Kartal’s eye-catching run at Indian Wells was brought to an abrupt halt by Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday as the world No. 1 claimed a commanding 6-1, 6-2 victory.
The Brit entered the main draw as a “lucky loser” but made it all the way to the fourth round in California, beating 16th-seed Beatriz Haddad Maia along the way.
For a brief moment, it seemed as if Kartal could cause another stunning upset as she broke the three-time Grand Slam winner in the first game. The early setback led to Sabalenka receiving a swift code violation as she was reprimanded for an audible obscenity.
But Sabalenka quickly regrouped to blow Kartal away. The Brit had no answer for the quality on show from her opponent across the court as Sabalenka won all six of the following games to take a set lead.
Sabalenka refused to let up in the second set, forcing Kartal to sprint around the court in a vain attempt to withstand the barrage.
Kartal did show some improvement in taking two games off Sabalenka on serve, but her defiance only delayed the inevitable as the tournament’s top seed wrapped up victory in a little over an hour.
The hard-hitting Belarusian, who helped fix a small issue with the net in the first set, will face either Liudmila Samsonova or Jasmine Paolini in the quarterfinals.
