World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka continued her Mutua Madrid Open mastery with a 6-3, 7-5 semifinal victory over No. 17 seed Elina Svitolina at the Caja Magica on Thursday night.
Sabalenka needed 1 hour and 32 minutes to hold off Svitolina, ending the Ukrainian’s undefeated clay-court run this year. Coming into Thursday’s match, Svitolina had gone 9-0 on clay at WTA events in 2025 (18-0 in sets), but Sabalenka put a stop to that streak.
Saturday’s final at this year’s first WTA 1000 clay-court event will pit Sabalenka against No. 4 seed Coco Gauff. Gauff dismissed defending champion Iga Swiatek 6-1, 6-1 in just 64 minutes earlier on Thursday.
Gauff has a narrow 5-4 lead over Sabalenka in their head-to-head. Gauff won their only prior clay-court meeting at 2021 Rome, and the American also won their most recent meeting, at the 2024 WTA Finals Riyadh.
Aryna Sabalenka has equalled Simona Halep for the most finals reached in Women’s Singles at the Madrid Open.
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