Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka saved 4 match factors and wanted 4 of her personal to earn a 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) victory over Payton Stearns on Saturday on the Indian Wells Masters.
The world quantity two was pushed to the restrict in her opening match by the American outsider ranked sixty fourth.
The match grew to become a battle from the beginning for Sabalenka, who was coming off a gap match loss in Dubai in February.
However she broke Stearns because the American served for the largest upset of her profession main 5-4 within the third set, Sabalenka taking the competition right into a tiebreaker.
The double Grand Slam winner lastly superior into the third spherical on her fourth alternative, letting out a yell of triumph and reduction.
Sabalenka, runner-up to Elena Rybakina within the California desert final 12 months, booked a third-round assembly with 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu of Britain.