Sabalenka beats Gauff to win third Madrid Open title

Madrid, May 4 (IANS) World number one Aryna Sabalenka claimed her third Madrid Open title after defeating American Coco Gauff 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the summit clash.

This marks Sabalenka's milestone 20th career WTA Tour singles title. It is her tour-leading third title of the year in Madrid, after hoisting the trophy at Brisbane and the previous WTA 1000 event, Miami.

She is now the second player in history to etch her name into the trophy at Madrid’s WTA 1000 three times (2025, 2021 and 2023) after Petra Kvitova (2011, 2015 and 2018).

The 26-year-old is just the second player to win Miami and Madrid in the same season, joining Serena Williams in 2013.

Sabalenka steamrolled her way through the opening games, thumping her forehand, hitting bomb after bomb from the baseline and completely overwhelming a Gauff who was struggling for solutions and took the first set 6-3.

Sabalenka staved off a second-set charge by Gauff, who was seeking her first title of the year and a possible return to the World No. 2 ranking. Sabalenka erased a set point at 5-4 on her way to a 1-hour and 39-minute victory.

Following her Madrid title run, no.1 ranked Sabalenka will become only the third woman to amass more than 11,000 ranking points and is nearly 4,000 ahead of No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the WTA Rankings. That gap is likely to grow. With Swiatek defending titles in Rome and Paris, she’ll also be defending 3,000 points across the next month. And because Sabalenka missed Wimbledon last year, this year’s result will be a ranking points windfall, WTA reports.

Sabalenka is more than 1,600 points clear of No. 2 Madison Keys in the Race to the WTA Finals in Riyadh. She’s the only player with three titles so far -- Brisbane, Miami and Madrid -- and has collected back-to-back WTA 1000 titles on vastly different surfaces. Her 31 match-wins are also the most among WTA Tour players.

--IANS

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