{"id":197129,"date":"2026-04-29T06:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/04\/29\/baptiste-saves-six-match-points-to-stun-sabalenka\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T06:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:28:18","slug":"baptiste-saves-six-match-points-to-stun-sabalenka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/04\/29\/baptiste-saves-six-match-points-to-stun-sabalenka\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptiste saves six match points to stun Sabalenka"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Hailey Baptiste saved six match points as she stunned world number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.<\/b><\/p>\n

Baptiste, the 30th seed, came through 2-6 6-2 7-6 (8-6) in a little over two and a half hours to end Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak. <\/p>\n

She is just the second player, after Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final, to defeat the Belarusian this season.<\/p>\n

“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, 24, said.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

After dropping the first set, Baptiste converted three of her four break points in the second to force a decider.<\/p>\n

Trailing 5-4 in the third, the American saved five match points before earning the opportunity to serve for the match after breaking Sabalenka for a third time in the set.<\/p>\n

Sabalenka broke back and later brought up a sixth match point at 6-5 in the tie-break. However, Baptiste rattled off three consecutive points to complete her maiden win over a top-five player.<\/p>\n

She will face world number nine Mirra Andreeva, of Russia, who beat Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in straight sets, in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

“She played really brave tennis on those match points,” Sabalenka said. “In the first game of the second set, I double faulted twice out of nowhere. That gave her belief. She started playing aggressively. What can I say? Well done.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hailey Baptiste saved six match points as she stunned world number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open. Baptiste, the 30th seed, came through 2-6 6-2 7-6 (8-6) in a little over two and a half hours to end Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak. She is just the second player, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBaptiste saves six match points to stun Sabalenka - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/04\/29\/baptiste-saves-six-match-points-to-stun-sabalenka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Baptiste saves six match points to stun Sabalenka\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hailey Baptiste saved six match points as she stunned world number one and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open. 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