{"id":638156,"date":"2026-04-29T09:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T09:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/638156\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T09:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T09:30:13","slug":"tennis-2026-madrid-open-aryna-sabalenka-knocked-out-by-hailey-baptiste-scores-highlights-video-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/638156\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis 2026 Madrid Open: Aryna Sabalenka knocked out by Hailey Baptiste; scores, highlights, video, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> has been handed just her second loss of 2026, knocked out of the Madrid Open<\/a> in the semi-finals by American Hailey Baptiste.<\/p>\n

The American \u2013 who had never before beaten a top-five player \u2013 saved six match points in the 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) win that lasted two-and-a-half hours on Wednesday morning (AEST).<\/p>\n

Baptiste also overcame 10 double points, faced 17 break points, and served at just 55 per cent on her way to a shock victory.<\/p>\n

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\"Aryna<\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka was handed just her second defeat of the year.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Heading into the match, Sabalenka had dropped only three sets in the fifteen matches since losing the Australian Open final to Elena Rybakina.<\/p>\n

She looked as if she was well on her way to another dominant victory when she cruised through the first set in under 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

But the 24-year-old Baptiste fought back in the second \u2013 she sent down six aces and converted four of five break points to send the match to a deciding third.<\/p>\n

Watch grand slam tennis and the WTA Tour on Stan Sport<\/a>, ad-free, live and on demand<\/p>\n

Down 5-4, Baptiste saved five match points and then a sixth in the tiebreak. She booked her maiden appearance in a WTA 1000 semi final with a ripping forehand winner that caught the back corner.<\/p>\n

“Moments that can become career-building, career-defining,” commentator Kevin Skinner said.<\/p>\n

“Knocking off the world No.1 to earn your spot in your first WTA 1000 semi final \u2026 the biggest win of her career.”<\/p>\n

\"Hailey<\/p>\n

Baptiste after securing the victory.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

It looked as if it took a moment for Baptiste to realise she had won the match, before letting rip with an almighty roar. The third set lasted nearly as long as the first two combined.<\/p>\n

Such was the closeness of the match, Sabalenka won 104 points to Baptiste’s 103.<\/p>\n

Baptiste will now face another top-10 opponent in the semi final, Mirra Andreeva, who dispatched Leylah Fernandez in straight sets earlier in the evening local time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka has been handed just her second loss of 2026, knocked out of the Madrid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-638156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638156","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=638156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}