Aryna Sabalenka suggests she’s just done something ‘crazy’ in her career which even she was not expecting to happen

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Aryna Sabalenka continued her dominance after winning the Madrid Open.

The Belarusian claimed her second title in the Spanish capital in three seasons by sealing a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Coco Gauff.

On Sunday the 27-year-old won her third title of the season and this was sixth final from the eight tournaments she has played.

Following Sabalenka’s success in Madrid, she further tightened her grip on the number one ranking and she made history in the process.

Aryna Sabalenka says her WTA rankings success is ‘crazy’

Aryna Sabalenka became the World number one for the second time in October 2024, and she has not looked back.

She closed the gap on former World number one Iga Swiatek following her Cincinnati Masters and US Open success in August and September respectively, before winning the Wuhan Open to regain the number one ranking.

Following her Madrid Open win, Sabalenka has made history by coming the thor player after Swiatek and Serena Williams to reach 11,000 ranking points.

Ahead of the Italian Open, Sabalenka reacted to her latest career achievement: “I don’t know that sounds crazy, honestly. It’s just incredible, I don’t know how I was able to achieve that.

“I believe that we are doing the right things and things are working, and hopefully it’s just going to keep getting better and bigger. I’m super motivated right now.”

She added: “Yeah, honestly, it’s so crazy for me, and I’ve been working my whole life to achieve this goal, and to be on the top of the ranking, that means a lot.

“It gives me this, I don’t know, I kind of, like I feel like that my life wasn’t like waste of time, and I’m where I have to be, where I supposed to be.

“Yeah, that just, like that takes a lot of hard work, but I’m just super happy right now to be one of the best players in the world, and to win this beautiful trophy, yeah, it just means a lot.”

Aryna Sabalenka aims to build on her success at the Italian Open

Sabalenka will be keen to build on her momentum from winning the Madrid Open in Rome.

She reached the final at the Italian Open a year ago, losing to Swiatek in straight sets.

But times have changed as Swiatek enters the tournament without a title since the French Open 2024, while Sabalenka has claimed six titles since then.

The Pole lost her last match 1-6, 1-6 to Coco Gauff, and there is plenty of work to do for Swiatek to get back into form.

Sabalenka on the other hand, will attempt to do what her rival did last season, and that is win the Madrid, Rome and French Open in the same season, and she made an excellent start.