Sabalenka survives Osaka challenge from a set and a break down in Madrid

No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka survived a barnburner against an inspired Naomi Osaka in the Mutua Madrid Open fourth round, coming from a set and a break down against the No. 14 seed to triumph 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Madrid: Scores | Draws | Order of play

The defending champion, who is bidding to lift the Madrid trophy for a fourth time this year, improved to 2-1 overall against former World No. 1 Osaka, backing up her straight-sets win at the same stage of Indian Wells last month. Sabalenka advanced to her 17th consecutive quarterfinal on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz; she has not lost before that round since falling to Clara Tauson in the 2025 Dubai third round.

"Oh my God, that was incredible level," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. "She played incredible tennis. I feel like I just got lucky in a couple shots in the third set, that's why it went that fast. I'm happy she brought that fight, I had to fight through to level up my game."

Sabalenka will next face No. 30 seed Hailey Baptiste, who came through a wild 6-1, 6-7(14), 6-3 rollercoaster to defeat No. 11 seed Belinda Bencic in 2 hours and 42 minutes. The American held six match points in the second set -- one serving at 6-5 and five more in the tiebreak -- but was undone by a cascade of double faults. Three came along as she served for the match at 6-5, and another two when up match point. After her third double fault of the tiebreak at 11-11, Baptiste demolished her racquet in frustration. Bencic went on to win the longest tour-level regular (first-to-seven) tiebreak since Palermo 2024, where Karolina Muchova defeated Katarzyna Kawa 7-6(14), 5-1 retired in the first round.

But for most of the first two sets, Baptiste's silky net skills and heavy forehand had been the key shots of the match, and she reset impressively in the third set to reach her second consecutive WTA 1000 quarterfinal. In her first, last month in Miami, she fell to Sabalenka 6-4, 6-4 in their first career meeting. The 24-year-old will seek to reverse that result on Wednesday.

More to come...

Click here to read article