Hailey Baptiste’s variety drags Aryna Sabalenka out of comfort zone in Madrid shock
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Hailey Baptiste of the US celebrates winning her Madrid Open quarter-final match against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MADRID – Hailey Baptiste offered a glimpse of how Aryna Sabalenka can be unsettled on clay, after mixing forays to the net with changes of pace to save six match points and prevail over the world No. 1 in their Madrid Open quarter-final on April 28.
Her 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) victory ended Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak, as the 24-year-old American’s inventive tennis under extreme pressure, most notably her serve-and-volley approach, dragged her opponent out of her comfort zone.
With the French Open starting on May 24, Baptiste gave four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka’s prospective opponents a reminder that variety often disrupts raw power on the sport’s slowest surface.
“I played her a few weeks ago (in Miami) and it was a close match... I had a better idea of how to play her and adjustments I needed to make,” Baptiste said.
While that clash – a 6-4, 6-4 quarter-final loss – shaped her thinking, Baptiste said her decisions in crucial moments on April 28 were made purely on instinct.
“The plan comes to my head when I get to the line,” she added.
“That’s what my brain was telling me to do... and it worked. It doesn’t always, but in that moment it did.
“It was an uncomfortable situation for her, me serving and volleying, hitting a drop shot in one of the match points. It’s not the easiest position to put her in, which is the plan.”
Sabalenka, who will continue her preparations in Rome to improve on her runner-up finish at Roland Garros in 2025, was gracious in defeat.
“It was a tough match. She played very well and I played well too. I think I had some opportunities in the third set. I felt like maybe I was a bit rushed in some points at that moment,” the Belarusian, 27, said.
“She played some great points. I had some chances and didn’t capitalise on them. I feel she played very courageous tennis in those match-point moments and that made the difference... what can I say? Well done.
“It’s okay. Sometimes you have to learn, take the negatives from this week and move on.”
On whether there was pressure to extend her winning run, she added: “Not really. I was just playing tennis, trying to find a way to win the match, but it didn’t work out today. At no point did I think about the streak.”
Baptiste next takes on Mirra Andreeva, who defeated Canadian Leylah Fernandez 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 to reach her first Madrid semi-final.
The Russian teenager was a recent champion in Linz and improved her clay-court record to 11-1 this season.
In men’s action on April 29, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner held off 19-year-old Spanish wild card Rafael Jodar to win 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) in the quarter-finals, becoming the sixth player to reach the semi-finals of all nine ATP 1000 Masters tournaments. REUTERS
