Well, I save the fight with Sabrina till I won the other six badges and defeat Team Rocket... So it possibly could happen to me.
But Sabrina is my favourite Gym Leader of all games, so I never could forget about her. ^_^ So in fact, no, I don´t know that problem. Even while playing the game the first time and don´t know her, I challenged her before surfing to Cinnabar Island. [Well, the ORIGINAL Blue edition, of course. When I played FR/LG the first time, I knowed Pokemon for many years already... xD]