Aryna Sabalenka defeats Magda Linette, begins Mutua Madrid Open title defense

Two-time Mutua Madrid Open champion Aryna Sabalenka overcame a difficult start to her 2024 campaign, defeating Magda Linette, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to kick off her title defense.

"Gracias Madrid for all the support," Sabalenka told the crowd after the match, thanking them for the atmosphere. "That's almost everything I've learned in Spanish! I'll talk more to Paula [Badosa] so she can teach me some more stuff."

The No. 2 seed last played Linette at the 2023 Australian Open, where she went on to win her first Grand Slam title; now a two-time Australian Open champion, Sabalenka won eight of the final nine points to edge past the unseeded Pole in two hours and nine minutes on Manolo Santana Stadium.

"She's a tough opponent," Sabalenka explained. "I've played a couple matches against her and they've always been tough battles. There were some ups and downs but I'm happy I was able to close this match and get through to another one."

Sabalenka has dealt with an emotionally difficult spring, highlighted by the loss of ex-partner Konstantin Koltsov, and has endured early exits from the Miami Open and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, where her clay-court season ended in the quarterfinals against Marketa Vondrousova.

With both of her major victories coming on hard courts, Madrid remains the site of Sabalenka’s greatest clay-court success, having won her first WTA 1000 title on clay in 2021 in a riveting final against Ashleigh Barty and repeating the victory last year over Iga Swiatek. Still, the slower surface can neutralize the world No. 2’s awesome power and tempt her into a pattern of lower-percentage shotmaking.

The 25-year-old largely kept those instincts at bay in the opening set, striking an even mix of 18 winners to 19 unforced errors as she nabbed the opening set behind a single break of serve.

At 32, Linette is down from the career-high ranking of No. 19, which she earned shortly after reaching her first major semifinal in Melbourne, but has proven capable on clay in years past, shocking Ons Jabeur in the first round of Roland Garros back in 2022. She made her move early in the second set as Sabalenka began to lose her rhythm, breaking the defending champ to love to open up a 4-1 lead.

Sabalenka continued to struggle on serve, a shot that had given her fits for years before finally changing her motion with the help of a biomechanic expert. Though she saved two break points to avoid a double-break deficit, Sabalenka continued to express frustration towards her team, led by coach Anton Dubrov. After changing racquets, Sabalenka settled in for the business end of the second set but Linette was unmoved, saving a break point and leveling the contest after one of the best rallies of the match.

The third set began with Sabalenka again off balance, forced to save two break points before serving her way to a hold, and things remained tense as both women defended their serves against openings to break.

After saving another break point in the seventh game with a vicious putaway at net, Sabalenka roared back from 30-0 down on Linette’s serve, getting a break chance of her own with a fearsome forehand return and finally breaking off a netcord winner.

Sabalenka was in full flow by the time she was serving for the match, smacking an ace, a forehand winner, and another ace—ending the match with a +2 differential with 47 winners to 45 unforced errors—to book a third-round encounter against either No. 26 seed Katie Boulter or American wild card Robin Montgomery.