MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Aryna Sabalenka gave herself an early birthday gift by easing into the Madrid Open final for the second time in three years on Thursday and then plotted revenge on world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
The world No. 2 turns 25 on Friday and the Belarusian celebrated in style by breezing past Greek world No. 9 Maria Sakkari, 6-4, 6-1.
Sabalenka, the 2021 champion in Madrid, will face Swiatek in Saturday’s championship match after the French and US Open winner swept aside 13th-ranked Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 6-1.
Reigning Australian Open champion Sabalenka will be chasing a fifth WTA 1000 title, a 13th career title overall and third in 2023.
She will have the opportunity to avenge her straight-sets defeat to Swiatek in last month’s Stuttgart championship match.
“I really want this revenge,” she said.
“It would be really great to be able to defeat a player like Iga on clay.”
“In Stuttgart, I was rushing on the short balls, I tried too hard for the winning shot. This time, I played with more patience and waited for the right ball to finish the point.”
Top seed Swiatek enjoys a 5-2 win-loss record against Sabalenka, having also won the pair’s three previous clay-court meetings.
In the men’s quarter-finals, Jan-Lennard Struff stunned world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas to become only the third lucky loser to reach the semifinals of an ATP Masters event.
The 33-year-old German, who had lost in the qualifying round before being allotted a place in the main draw, triumphed 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-3.
He will now face Russian qualifier Aslan Karatsev in Friday’s semifinals.
“It feels amazing. It was a very, very hard battle. I knew before, I needed to perform at my best,” said Struff who, ironically, had lost to Karatsev in qualifying last weekend.
The other semifinal sees defending champion and world number two Carlos Alcaraz, who will celebrate his 20th birthday on Friday, facing Borna Coric of Croatia.
Struff, ranked at 65 in the world, followed Thomas Johansson at Toronto in 2004 and Lucas Pouille at Rome in 2016 as a lucky loser to reach a Masters semifinal.
