Aryna Sabalenka will defend her title at the high-powered tennis tournament in Madrid after breaking the resistance of Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) in nearly two hours and 20 minutes of hard-fought battle.
After three quick games on serve, the fourth-seeded Kazakh took control in the first set and took four unanswered games for 6-1. Rybakina was playing very strongly and made another break, which she consolidated, saving two break points. Her lead was 4-2 when the reigning champion broke back for 4-4. However, the Belarusian, second in the scheme, cracked and at 4-5 her opponent served for the victory. However, Sabalenka went on a streak of three consecutive games to win the set 7-5. The third decisive set was dictated by the servers - Sabalenka only had to save two break points in the 11th game. Naturally, it came to a tiebreak, in which the representative of Belarus led 5-1 and 6-3 points, and although Rybakina saved two match points, she did not have the strength for anything more and suffered a defeat.
In the final, Sabalenka will play the world number 1 Iga Swiatek, who in the other semi-final gave only four games to the American Madison Keys. The clash between the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the women's tournament will be a repeat of last year's trophy dispute, when Sabalenka claimed her second title in the Spanish capital after 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
However, Swiatek has an advantage in direct matches with the Belarusian - 6-3, as well as 2-1 victories in finals. Their last official match was at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, where the Pole prevailed convincingly in two sets. /BGNES
