World number 1 Aryna Sabalenka beats Elina Svitolina and will face Coco Gauff in the Madrid final

Not without difficulty, world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka qualified this Thursday evening for the WTA 1000 final in Madrid against Elina Svitolina (17th) in two sets (6-3, 7-5) and 1 hour 31 minutes of play. The Belarusian created the first gap in the first set thanks to her break on the Ukrainian's second serve (4-1). A short-lived joy since Svitolina, winner in Rouen last month , broke Sabalenka's serve shortly after to rekindle the suspense. The champion's reaction was not long in coming to take the first set win in the process.

In the second set, the world number 1 struck even harder. A break in the first game forced Svitolina to chase the score for much of the set, before tying the score back to 5-5. But just like in the first set, Sabalenka broke back on her opponent's final game before serving out the match, successfully.

This is the fourth time in the last five editions that Sabalenka has reached the final of this tournament, with a total of two wins and one loss - against Iga Swiatek last year. She is also the first woman to participate in a final three years in a row in Madrid. This Saturday, she will face American Coco Gauff (4th), who comfortably defeated Iga Swiatek (2nd) earlier in the day (6-1, 6-1).