Madrid Open: Aryna Sabalenka defeats Coco Gauff to win record-equaling title

CNN
 — 

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka gained a record-equaling Madrid Open title on Saturday, defeating the USA’s Coco Gauff 6-3, 7-6 (3) within the remaining.

With the win, Sabalenka equaled Petra Kvitova’s document three titles in Madrid, and secured her twentieth profession title. It additionally additional consolidated her spot as world No. 1, following a dominant begin to the yr during which she has reached 4 consecutive finals, and gained a tour-leading 31 matches.

In the meantime, Gauff, who may have leapfrogged over Iga Świątek to take the world No. 2 spot with a win, stays the No. 3 seed within the rankings.

“It’s always incredible to come back to Madrid, I love this place, I’m always excited to play in front of you all,” Sabalenka mentioned in her on-court interview afterward, thanking the gang for its assist.

She loved a near-perfect begin to the match, her highly effective floor strokes overpowering Gauff as she gained 17 consecutive factors early on to take an finally unassailable first-set lead.

Although Gauff settled into the match, she couldn’t get well that deficit and was left to launch her problem within the second set. A wonderfully executed passing shot ensured that Gauff broke Sabalenka early within the second and she or he finally served for the set at 5-4 to degree the match.

Sabalenka raced to a 0-40 lead however Gauff clung on, saved one break level and on the following, the racquet slipped out of Sabalenka’s fingers as she scampered across the courtroom.

That gave Gauff a gap and she or he took it, engineering a set level however Sabalenka as soon as once more snuffed out any likelihood, and later broke again. Finally, regardless of Gauff’s greatest efforts, the set went to a tiebreak which Sabalenka gained, wrapping up the match.