{"id":609529,"date":"2026-04-27T16:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/609529\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T16:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:12:08","slug":"us-star-obliterates-racket-in-madrid-open-tantrum-over-wasted-match-points-tennis-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/609529\/","title":{"rendered":"US star obliterates racket in Madrid Open tantrum over wasted match points – Tennis – Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hailey Baptiste vented her frustrations during a dramatic tiebreak, in which she squandered multiple match points against 11th seed Belinda Bencic in Madrid. The American appeared on course for victory and held a match point at 6-5 in the second set, before further opportunities slipped away in the tiebreak.<\/p>\n

Baptiste failed to convert her fifth match point while serving at 11-10 in the tense tiebreak. On the very next point, she hit a double fault to hand Bencic a set point, then slammed her tennis<\/a> racket into the ground three times before bending it over her knee.<\/p>\n

The co-commentator responded: “Absolutely understandable reaction from Hailey Baptiste. Three of the match points in this tiebreak have been double faults. Purely mental. Well, this reaction could help to release that tension.”<\/p>\n

The chair umpire issued a code violation for racket abuse against Baptiste, who had already received a time violation. However, Bencic also failed to capitalize on a set point on her serve, and the tiebreak pressed on.<\/p>\n

A sixth match point came and went for No. 30 seed Baptiste, before Bencic ultimately converted her sixth set point to claim the grueling 95-minute second set 7-6(14), forcing a decisive third set.<\/p>\n

Baptiste had already caused a major upset in Madrid, eliminating sixth seed Jasmine Paolini in the third round over the weekend. She appeared poised to claim another high-profile victory against Bencic, before being pushed into a deciding third set.<\/p>\n

However, the 24 year old regrouped impressively, securing a crucial break in the sixth game of the final set to seize control. Baptiste then maintained her momentum to seal a commanding 6-1 6-7(14) 6-3 triumph.<\/p>\n

Having reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final last month in Miami, Baptiste has wasted no time in matching that achievement by defeating Bencic.<\/p>\n

She now faces a formidable challenge in the last eight, with either world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or former No. 1 Naomi Osaka standing in her way. Notably, Baptiste fell to Sabalenka in Miami just last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hailey Baptiste vented her frustrations during a dramatic tiebreak, in which she squandered multiple match points against 11th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[40311,23994,65709,3662,99,428,9519],"class_list":["post-609529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-belinda-bencic","tag-hailey-baptiste","tag-madrid-open","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-section"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}