When the two players met in Madrid in April, it was Osaka who won the opening set, and she started quickly once again, breaking Sabalenka in her opening service game.
However, it proved to be the only moment of uncertainty on serve for the top seed, who only conceded four points on her own delivery across the remainder of the first set and finished the match with 12 aces to Osaka’s two – and an 83% win rate behind her first serve.
Osaka, by contrast, invited pressure on herself, being taken to deuce after leading 40-15 in three first-set service games and landing just 53% of her first serves. Sabalenka routinely stepped inside the baseline to receive second serves and won 21 points from a possible 35.
Sabelenka’s canny shot selection also proved effective, winning 10 of her 11 points at the net and hitting five drop shots among her 39 winners as she avoided being drawn into endless baseline slog-fests.
She made the decisive break in the 11th game of the opening set before closing it out with a hold to love, and her relentless pressure told again in the second.
Osaka saved a break point in the fifth game but was broken to 15 in her next two service games, with Sabalenka converting match point with a trademark booming forehand.
