Three-peat for Sabalenka, champion in Madrid
The Belarusian has reached the final in Madrid four times – and won the title on three of those occasions
Aryna Sabalenka (Jose Breton/AP/SIPA)
Aryna Sabalenka won her third Madrid title, beating Coco Gauff 6-3, 7-6 (3) to lift the trophy.
She exacted some measure of revenge for two notable victories on Gauff’s card – their only other meeting on clay, when the American won 7-5, 6-3 in Rome in 2021, and their only other meeting in a final, when she won her first-ever Grand Slam at the US Open, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2023.
Sabalenka was quickest out of the blocks, winning 17 points in a row towards the start of the first set before Gauff managed to claw back one of the breaks.
Sabalenka would not be stopped, though, wrapping it up 6-3 in just over half an hour.
It was Gauff who made the first move in the second set, with the early break to edge 3-1 up, and she had the chance to serve it out.
Sabalenka piled the pressure on – and despite dropping one break point along with her racquet in one bizarre incident, she saved set point and then took her seventh break point to level things up at 5-5.
Just a few minutes later, after a straightforward hold, the world No 1 had match point on the Gauff serve, but the American turned it round to force a tiebreak.
Sabalenka shone, firing down two great serves to take her to three more championship points. It was unfortunate that she won the title on a Gauff double fault – the eighth of the match – but it was ultimately a thoroughly deserved win, concluding a week in which she did not drop a set.
