Aryna Sabalenka produced a stunning comeback, in what was one of the best matches of the season, to keep her back-to-back title dream alive at the Mutua Madrid Open. The world number 2 defeated the world No.4, Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) in the semi-finals. Rybakina was on a 16 match win streak on clay, but it was the Belorussian who dug deepest, reaching her 3rd Madrid final.
It will be a rematch of last year’s final, with Iga Swiatek cruising through her semi-final against American Madison Keys 6-1 6-3.
But it was Sabalenka and Rybakina who put on the real show for the crowd.
Rybakina was first to jump out of the gates, playing an almost flawless first set, serving at 75%, and keeping Sabalenka to just 12 points and only 3 winners.
The second set saw Sabalenka force her way back into the match. As her first serve percentage grew to 63%, Rybakina’s dipped to 52%, allowing the Belarussian to create more break points, and in the end, converting them, to take the match into a third set.
“I was struggling a lot on my serve in the first set, and definitely, easy games on my serve gave me a bit more belief that I still got some chances in this match,” Sabalenka said. “That’s kind of gave me an extra energy to keep fighting and keep trying on her serve to break her and get back in the match.”
Rybakina will look back on this match as one that got away though. At 5-4, 30-all, she was just two points away from reaching yet another final. But two unforced errors in a row cost her dearly.
“Probably that was the key moment,” Sabalenka said. “That’s why I’m saying, I don’t know how I was able to come back in this match. Probably she missed her opportunities. I used my opportunities. Yeah, that’s it.”
The third set was an even battle throughout, with no breaks of serve, although Rybakina did have two break point chances in the 11th game. Twelve successive holds, and it was a tie-break to decide the semi-final.
It was Sabalenka who dominated the tie-break though, and although Rybakina saved 2 match points at 3-6 down, Sabalenka converted the third, to seal a victory in 2 hours and 17 minutes.
