On Sunday, Daniil Medvedev didn’t seem like himself as he sat on his courtside chair, water bottle in hand, after his opening-round loss to Adam Walton at the Cincinnati Open. The Ohio heat had drained him both mentally and physically over two-and-a-half hours. Just a day later, Aryna Sabalenka and Emma Raducanu clashed in a classic battle of grit. And when the dust settled, Sabalenka bared the biggest gap between them, one that spoke louder than the scoreline, a ‘realization’!

By the close of a breathless opening set against the world’s finest, Emma Raducanu was a portrait of grit painted over frustration. Rather than letting those emotions devour her, she sharpened them into steel, delivering one of the most commanding performances of her career. Under the punishing Cincinnati sun, she dragged Aryna Sabalenka into a marathon of wills: three hours and nine minutes of fire and fight, before yielding 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (5) in a third-round war.

The Centre Court clock had barely struck 1 pm when they stepped into the furnace, 32°C of suffocating heat and humid air that clung to every breath. Sabalenka, still charging through the draw, didn’t just endure; she now spills the truth about what she truly discovered while facing Emma. And no, it’s not what you think.

Right after her triumph, Aryna Sabalenka stepped onto the Tennis Channel set, greeted by the familiar, easygoing voice of Prakash Amritraj. The question was simple yet piercing: in that suffocating Cincinnati heat, what are the mental hurdles that creep into a player’s mind? Sabalenka, flashing a wry smile and letting out a light laugh, confessed, “The whole time I’ve been thinking this is what they called aging. I was like, ‘This is how it feels to be old?’” The words were playful, yet tinged with a truth that didn’t sound too comforting.

Her realisation became sharper as she recalled a particular moment. “I looked at Emma, and she was like pumped. She was like ready to play the next point. And I was there like still trying to recover my breath. And I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ I like I couldn’t believe I’m getting old,” she said. And perhaps in a way it was true. Sabalenka, 27, was staring down the tireless energy of a 22-year-old Raducanu, and the contrast was impossible to ignore.

The Belarusian wasn’t done peeling back the layers. “We need to do something because yeah, I’m getting old. But I was just like trying to control my breath. I was just like trying to do those slow exhales just make sure that I can breathe normal. And I don’t know. I was hoping that I’m going to be able to stay in there in these conditions and get the win,” she admitted, revealing the raw edge of a champion still battling the elements as fiercely as her opponent

This clash was only the latest chapter in their growing rivalry. Just a month ago, beneath the iconic Centre Court roof of the All England Club, Raducanu had pushed Sabalenka to the edge in front of 15,000 roaring fans. With the crowd on her side and a set point in hand, the Brit threatened to unseat the world No. 1. But Sabalenka, who has made a career out of thriving under fire, turned the screws at the most critical moment, wresting away a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory and stamping her authority yet again.

Now, with Raducanu, with her new mentor Francisco Roig, out of Cincinnati, she leaves knowing she pushed the reigning queen of the sport to her limits once more. And Sabalenka, still standing tall and charging into yet another Masters round of 16, carries both the pride of survival and the hunger for more. The heat may have tested her lungs, but her resolve burned hotter still.

Aryna Sabalenka reflects on her Cincinnati Open performance

When Aryna Sabalenka and Emma Raducanu stepped into the first-set tiebreak under the Cincinnati sun, the script seemed already written. Recent history had painted Sabalenka as untouchable in these moments, and she proved it again. She tore through six of the first seven points, sealing the deal with back-to-back aces before converting her third set point. That win extended her flawless 11-0 record in first-set tiebreakers this season, a weapon forged from what was once a glaring weakness.

Even as frustration simmered through the match, Sabalenka’s resolve never wavered. Fearless in the fire, she powered to victory with 46 winners, though tempered by 72 unforced errors, and kept her tiebreak dominance alive, now boasting 18 wins in 19 such deciders this year. In just 18 months, she has swept all three encounters against Raducanu, clocking 49 wins this season and nearly 100 grueling hours on court, more than any other Hologic WTA Tour player.

Relief washed over her as she addressed the crowd. “Happy to get through this match,” she admitted with a smile. “I really hope I have a day tomorrow.” It was a rare moment of softness after another hard-fought triumph.

Her journey in Cincinnati now points toward a R16 clash with Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, who dismantled wild card Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-1. The key question now is: can Sabalenka find her spark and dominate her way into another quarterfinal?