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tennis express pro player gear<\/p>\nHailey Baptiste has reached back-to-back WTA 1000 quarterfinals in Miami and Madrid\u2014but not without a serious mental test.<\/p>\n
The Washington, D.C. native squandered six match points in the second set on Monday, yet regrouped to defeat Belinda Bencic, 6-1, 6-7(14), 6-2, in two hours and 43 minutes.<\/p>\n
tennis express pro player gear<\/p>\n
The victory sets up a quarterfinal clash with World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was such a roller coaster of a match,\u201d Baptiste said. \u201cIt was very difficult mentally to come back from that in the third\u2014I\u2019m just really happy to turn things around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baptiste needed a Herculean effort to move past the chaos of the second set. She served for the match, failed to convert a match point, and moments later found herself locked in a marathon tiebreak.<\/p>\n
She appeared on the brink of victory once again after winning five straight points to lead 6-4, but the chances slipped away. A double fault erased one match point, followed by a missed return on another\u20146-6 at the changeover.<\/p>\n
From there, the tension only escalated. Baptiste saved three set points to reach 9-9, then earned additional match points at 10-9 and 11-10\u2014only to see them slip away, including another double fault on match point.<\/p>\n
The tiebreak stretched deep into extra time. Baptiste saved further set points to reach 13-13, but at 14-13 (after four change of ends on a warm, sunny afternoon in Madrid), Bencic struck a forehand winner to earn another opportunity\u2014and two points later, a missed drive volley from Baptiste handed the Swiss the set, 16-14.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tiebreak took years off my life, for sure,\u201d Baptiste said on Tennis Channel. \u201cI knew if I wanted to win that match, I had to shake it off quickly. I couldn\u2019t sit in that feeling for long, and that\u2019s what I did.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just needed a short-term memory and to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baptiste, 24, said she has developed the tools to manage those emotional swings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been years of practicing and testing different methods,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes I have to let the anger out\u2014but then I have to reset immediately for the next point. I wasn\u2019t able to close out the second set, but I regrouped in the third and turned things around. I\u2019m really proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baptiste continues to thrive on her preferred surface. Armed with a heavy kick serve and a topspin forehand, she is particularly dangerous in warm clay-court conditions. She owns a 15-8 record on clay since the start of last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cClay has always been my favorite surface,\u201d she said. \u201cI had some really good results last year, and I\u2019ve carried that confidence into this clay swing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for her upcoming clash with Sabalenka, Baptiste hopes to build on her experience from their previous meeting\u2014a 6-4, 6-4 loss in the Miami quarterfinals earlier this spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the chance to play her in Miami, so I know a bit more what to expect,\u201d she said. \u201cThat gives me a little more comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hailey Baptiste has reached back-to-back WTA 1000 quarterfinals in Miami and Madrid\u2014but not without a serious mental test.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-634571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}