CNN
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World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka won the record Madrid open title on Saturday, beating the US CocoGoff 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the final.
With the victory, Sabalenka was comparable to Petra Kvitova’s three record titles in Madrid, winning his 20th career title. She also further merged her spot as the number one in the world, reaching the final for four consecutive times and having a dominant start until the year she won 31 tour-leading games.
Meanwhile, Gouf, who managed to beat Igawiotek to win second place in the world, remains the third seed in the rankings.
“It’s always incredible to be back in Madrid. I love this place. I’m always excited to play in front of you,” Sabalenka said later in an interview with her on-court.
She enjoyed a near perfect start to the match. Her powerful groundstrokes overwhelmed Gouf as she won 17 times in a row early to get a first-set lead that was not attacked in the end.
Goff settled in the match, but she was unable to recover that deficit and was left to start the challenge in the second set. A fully executed pass shot guaranteed Gauff had broken Sabalenka early in the second, eventually leveling out the match by playing a set of 5-4.
Sabalenka took a 0-40 lead, but Gouf clinged to save one breakpoint, and the racket slid out of Sabalenka’s hand in the next stage.
It gave Gouf an opening, which she took and engineered the setpoint, but Sabalenka erased the chance again and later broke. In the end, despite Gouf’s best efforts, the set went to a tiebreak, where Sabalenka won and finished the match.
