Hailey Baptiste reveals bold promise she made to her team in remarkable Aryna Sabalenka win

Hailey Baptiste stunned the tennis world - and world number one Aryna Sabalenka - at the Madrid Open on Tuesday.

The world number 32 stunned the four-time Grand Slam champion winning 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 in just over two-and-a-half hours to book her place in the Madrid Open semi-finals.

In doing so, 30th seed Baptiste put an end to Sabalenka's 15-match winning streak on the WTA Tour, and handed the Belarusian only her second defeat of the season after losing to Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final back in January.

“I definitely had a lot of nerves. I had 28 chances yesterday and I didn’t get it done," the 24-year-old said after the match.

"So I was like 'I'm just going to go for it today' and I was able to get it on the first one.

"I told my team, ‘When I get my match point today I’m gonna win the first one that I get’ and I did it.”

Defending champion - and three-time Madrid champion - Sabalenka dominated the early exchanges, in which she forced two service breaks on her way to claiming the opening set 6-2.

But the American answered back with two breaks of her own to begin the second set, and forced a deciding set with a 6-2 reverse.

In the third and final set, Baptiste saved six match points on her way to recording the biggest win of her career to date, and became the first player to beat Sabalenka from match points down since the 2024 Madrid final against Iga Swiatek.

“I played her a few weeks ago and it was kind of a close match,” Baptiste said in her post-match press conference.

“I just got broken once in each set. So I had a better idea of how to play her, and how I should play, adjustments I needed to make.

"So I think I just went in trying to play my game, still doing the same things that I've been doing, but I had a few adjustments I needed to make from the last time we played.”

Sabalenka responds to defeat on social media

It was a history-making outing for Baptiste as the 24-year-old became the first American since Serena Williams in 2013 to defeat the world number one at the Caja Magica.

"She played really brave tennis on those match points," Sabalenka said of her opponent postgame.

"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."

Having failed to defend her title, Sunshine Double winner Sabalenka will now lose 785 WTA ranking points, bringing her total down to 10,110.

This will, however, still see her 1,555 points ahead of world number two Rybakina.

After the defeat to Baptiste, Sabalenka took to social media to share her thoughts.

“Not the ending I wanted,” Sabalenka wrote on Instagram. “But proud of the work I put in. We’re just getting started with clay season 💪🏼🧡 Thank you @mutuamadridopen"

Baptiste has advanced to her first WTA 1000 semifinal, where she will take on Mirra Andreeva after the world No 9 beat Leylah Fernandez of Canada 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 on Tuesday.

There, she has the chance to get her third Top 10 win this week, after she eliminated Italian star Jasmine Paolini in the third round before knocking off Sabalenka in the quarter-finals.

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