Aryna Sabalenka turned the tables on Ashleigh Barty to win the Madrid Open title.
Two weeks ago, Barty came from a set down to defeat Sabalenka in the final of the WTA event in Stuttgart, and it looked as if history would repeat itself when the world number one assumed the momentum going into the deciding set here.
But Sabalenka, one of the biggest hitters on tour, powered her way through the final three games for a 6-0 3-6 6-4 triumph and a 10th career title.
It is Sabalenkaās first clay-court title, and the 23-year-old said of her new-found comfort on the surface: āI would say before I was too much thinking about the clay court, that this is a surface not for me.
āMy focus is just on my game, that I have to stay aggressive, that I have to move well on the clay court, make sure I can hit these shots really clean, heavy shots. Just something changed in my mind for the clay court for this year. Iām not really scared of this surface any more.ā
Barty had not lost a match on red clay for nearly two years since before she won her maiden grand slam title at Roland Garros in 2019.
She had no answer to the power of her Belarusian opponent in the first set here, though, as Sabalenka produced the shots that have seen her tipped as a future slam champion for several years.
Sabalenka appears closer to that than ever now and she will hit a new career-high ranking of four on Monday.
Just as impressive as her first-set dominance was the way she recomposed herself after her level dropped in the second set, refusing to let Barty engineer her way to another title.
The Australian praised her Sabalenka, saying: āShe takes the ball out of my court and essentially takes the racket out of my hand when she serves the way she did in the first set. I gave her a few too many looks on second serves. Sheās able to dominate and take that away from me.
āThere wasnāt much in it. I think I had two or three break points in that third set. She had the same. She grabbed her opportunity, I didnāt grab mine. Itās a pretty fine line.ā
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Ā
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience forĀ our loyalĀ readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Ā
That is invaluable.Ā
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalistās job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readersā comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readersā comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the āreport this postā link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here