Emma Raducanu will bid to beat the first top-10 player of her career at her sixth attempt when she faces Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in Indian Wells.

The Brit and the Belarusian could have met in the 2021 US Open final but Sabalenka lost to Canadian Leylah Fernandez in the semi-final. The world No.2 has since won back-to-back titles in Melbourne - she will be a strong favourite against Raducanu.

The world No.250 has lost her five previous matches against top-10 players, the last against Ons Jabeur in Abu Dhabi last month. The highest ranked player she beat on the way to her US Open triumph was world No.12 Belinda Bencic in the quarter-finals.

Raducanu, who missed most of last season after wrist and ankle surgeries, reached the third round in California after recording back-to-back wins for the first time in a year.

But Raducanu benefitted from the retirement of Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska with a stomach problem after only 18 minutes in the opening set when the Bromley-based star was leading 4-0.

The world No.261 reached the fourth round at Indian Wells last year and she has now guaranteed she will not drop out of the top 300.

Sabalenka needed to save four match points before finally overcoming American Peyton Stearns in a 6-7 6-2 7-6 in nearly three hours. “This match will definitely go into the book of craziest matches and the best matches of my career,” she said.