Tennis: Sabalenka strikes hard in Madrid before Roland-Garros

The 26-year-old Belarusian beat in the Coco Gauff final in two sets 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), winning the 20th title of her career, the third in Madrid (2021, 2023), where she had won her latest tournament on clay.

Finalist in Madrid last year, Sabalenka puts pressure on her runner-up in the WTA Iga Swiatek classification, triple title holder at Roland-Garros and unrecognizable on Spanish clay, where she was swept away in half by Gauff 6-1, 6-1.

Already crowned in Miami, a finalist at the Australian Open and Indian Wells this season, Sabalenka widens the gap with his competitors in the WTA ranking and will have more than 4,000 points ahead in the ranking on Swiatek.

There remains one last WTA 1000 on clay in Rome (May 6-17) before the start of Roland-Garros (May 25-June 8).

In Paris, the native of Minsk with three Grand Slam titles (2 times the Australian Open and 1 US Open) has never exceeded the stadium of the semi-finals.

Last final at the US Open 2023

As usual, Sabalenka knocked out his opponent with the power of his blows, being much more conquering from the start on the court Manolo Santana.

She only left Coco Gauff crumbs in the first set, like Double-Break and the four white games that allowed her to lead 4 to 1.

The American is gaining momentum in the second round, until she has a set at 5-4. It was ultimately the world N.1 that took the game, before winning in Tie-Break thanks to the 8th double-faut de Gauff.

The start of the season of Coco Gauff (4th), a finalist at Roland-Garros in 2022, was so far rather average, with eighth eliminations in Miami and Indian Wells.

The last final between the two players dates back to the US Open 2023, where Coco Gauff had won his first and only Title du Grand Chelem (2-6, 6-3, 6-2).

Their only confrontation on clay was in 2021 in Rome, where Gauff also beat Sabalenka.