MADRID, April 29 (Reuters) – 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 number one in their Madrid Open quarter-final on Tuesday.
Baptiste’s 2-6 6-2 7-6(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-times 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 shaped her thinking, Baptiste said her decisions in crucial moments on Tuesday were made purely on instinct.
“The plan comes to my head when I get to the line,” Baptiste 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 last year’s runner-up finish at Roland Garros, was gracious in defeat.
“She played really brave tennis on those match points,” the 27-year-old Belarusian added.
“In Miami I didn’t give her much opportunities … Here, in the first game of the second set I just double-faulted twice out of nowhere.
“That gave her belief. She started playing aggressively … what can I say? Well done.”
Baptiste takes on Mirra Andreeva next.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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