MADRID – Belarusian world number two Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the Madrid Open final for the second time in three years by defeating Greek Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1.
Men’s qualifier Aslan Karatsev of Russia reached his first Masters 1000 semi-final after ending a strong run by Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (3), 6-4.
The second-seeded Sabalenka opened with a 3-0 lead before Sakkari pulled even. The 24-year-old player from Belarus then won nine of the last 11 games, including the last five, to comfortably close out the match.
“It was actually my best match of the tournament,” Sabalenka said according to AP. “I´m super happy with the level that I played, and especially with my mental game.”
The Australian Open champion is seeking her fifth WTA 1000 title and 13th career title overall.
“I started really well. Then Maria came back.
“But mentally I was staying really strong. I knew that she’s going to fight for every point. It didn’t, how to say, didn’t destroy me that she came back. I was still playing, I was still fighting for every point.
“Yeah, I’m super happy with the level that I played, and especially with my mental game, I would say. I’m more happy with my mental game.”
The ninth-seeded Sakkari dropped to 7-22 in semi-finals. It was the first time the 27-year-old Greek was playing in the last four in Madrid.
Sabalenka’s victory over Sakkari is the 25th Top 10 win of her career. Madrid will be Sabalenka’s fifth final of the season, having won Adelaide, the Australian Open, and finishing runner-up in Indian Wells and Stuttgart.
She is the first player since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 to make five finals before the tour turned to Rome.
Sabalenka extended her head-to-head advantage against Sakkari to 6-3 in 1 hour and 25 minutes, beating the Greek in straight sets for the fifth time.
From 3-3 in the opening set, Sabalenka won nine of the last 11 games in the match, including the last five.
Sabalenka won the first three games, but Sakkari hit back to take the next three — including a titanic service hold for 3-3 that went six deuces, where she saved four break points.
Sakkari had two further break points on Sabalenka’s serve to extend her run to four straight games but couldn’t take the lead. Sabalenka broke Sakkari for a second time to wrap up a one-set lead from 30-0 down.
With a set in hand, the World No.2 dropped just one more game to seal her tour-leading 28th victory of the season.
In men’s games, Karatsev reached his first Masters 1000 semi-final after ending a strong run by Chinese player Zhizhen 7-6 (3), 6-4.
The 121st-ranked Russian saved all three breaks points he faced in the first set and converted his only opportunity in the second.
The 99th-ranked Zhang was the first Chinese man to make the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 tournament by upsetting Danis Shapovalov, Cameron Norrie and Taylor Fritz.
Karatsev has been ranked as high as 14th. In 2021, he became the first man in his Grand Slam debut to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.
In Madrid, he´s only the second qualifier to make the semis.
“I started the year inside the top 100 then I dropped and lost some matches,” he said.
In an intriguing clash between two first-time Masters 1000 quarter-finalists, it was Karatsev who held his nerve at key moments inside Manolo Santana Stadium.
The 29-year-old saved all three break points he faced in the first set and produced a clean-hitting display in the second set to triumph after one hour and 40 minutes.
“I am happy with my condition. Back to the top level,” Karatsev said. “Playing well and feeling well. From the qualifying, match by match, it has got harder, so mentally you have to be there more.
“Because your opponent doesn’t give you any free points so you have to be there yourself. The important thing is now recover well.”
Having dropped as low as No. 129 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on 17 April, Karatsev has refound his best form in Madrid, defeating seeded players Botic van de Zandschulp, Alex de Minaur and Daniil Medvedev.
Playing with confidence against Zhang, Karatsev stuck his groundstrokes aggressively in the fast conditions, hitting 29 winners to improve to 1-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against Zhang. With his ninth tour-level win of the year, Karatsev has jumped to No. 51 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.
“You have to keep going and believe and I have a team behind me that is always supporting me and believing in me,” Karatsev said.
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