Aryna Sabalenka qualified for the final of the WTA 1000 Madrid Open

The 2nd-seeded Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) qualified for the final of the WTA 1000 Madrid Open clay tennis tournament with a prize pool of 7.7 million EUR.

Aryna Sabalenka became the first player to reach five finals in a season before the WTA 1000 Roma Open in Italy since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2012. The final in Madrid is the second for the Belarusian tennis player in the last three seasons.

In the semi-finals, the 2021 champion Aryna Sabalenka defeated Maria Sakkari (Greece) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:1) and will chase her 13th title and the 5th in the WTA 1000 series.

The semi-final clash between Sabalenka and Sakari lasted an hour and 26 minutes.

Aryna Sabalenka led 3:1 in the first set, allowing an equalizer for 3:3, but by the end gave only one more game to Maria Sakkari. In the second part, the representative of Belarus was decisive and qualified for the final in Madrid.

The 9th-seeded Greek player is already 7-22 in the semifinals she has played. She reached the top 4 in the Spanish capital for the first time.