2LT National News

Fifth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka captured her 10th career title as she knocked off top-seeded Ashleigh Barty 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in the championship match of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday.

Sabalenka recorded nine aces and 34 winners against 25 unforced errors while winning her second title of the season. The Belarusian will move up to No. 4 in the rankings after winning her first career clay-court title.

World No. 1 Barty had three aces and 18 winners while committing 14 unforced errors. The loss ended the Australian’s 16-match winning streak on clay and marked her first loss in four title matches in 2021.

Barty defeated Sabalenka two weeks ago in the Stuttgart final. But Sabalenka was on a mission this time and she hit 11 winners while sweeping the first set and later finished with a flourish to end the 99-minute match.

Sabalenka suffered an adductor injury during the loss to Barty two weeks ago. She said she was unsure she would even be able to play this week in Madrid.

“To be honest, after the final in Stuttgart I was injured, I couldn’t even move, I really wanted to withdraw from here,” Sabalenka said after Saturday’s win. “And I don’t know how, but my team — the recovery was really good. In four days, they made me feel much better. Somehow I’m here standing as the champion of this tournament.”

Barty controlled the second set and held a 4-3 lead in the third. She was two points away from taking a two-game lead but Sabalenka didn’t lose another point, rolling off 11 straight to close the match.

“I stayed focused from the beginning till the end,” Sabalenka said. “I was putting her under the pressure, especially in the end of the third set. In those key moments I was a little bit more aggressive. That’s what really helped me to win this match.”

The first set marked the eighth time Barty put up a bagel during her career.

“It’s tough to take too many good things out of it,” Barty said of the blanking. “You just reset and start again. That was important for me to try to do. I think I just needed to try a few different things.

“I shifted my court position around more than anything to try to give her a little bit of a different look, try to break some rhythm, some momentum. I was able to do that.”

L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo

Fifth-seeded Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland posted a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Harmony Tan of France to reach the championship match at Saint-Malo, France.

Golubic will face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the title match. Paolini was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Varvara Gracheva of Russia.

–Field Level Media