Sabalenka to ‘step back and learn’ from loss

There were echoes of the pair’s only prior meeting at this stage of a major – the 2023 US Open title match, which the American also clawed back from a set down.

Following her success at Arthur Ashe Stadium a year later, Sabalenka has now fallen in her past two major finals – this year’s Australian Open to Madison Keys and on Saturday to Gauff – in three sets.

“In different ways I can actually see the same thing,” Sabalenka said. “Just the level was much better in the third set against Keys. She just basically overhit and went for crazy shots, and it went in. Kind of like overpowered me in the last couple of games.

“And today was just, you know, she literally just put an extra ball on the other side than I did, so yeah, I definitely have to step back and learn something because I cannot keep doing the same mistake.”

The  6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 defeat ended an otherwise strong clay-court swing for the 27-year-old, whose Madrid trophy was her third of the season and whose win over four-time champion Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals snapped the Pole’s 26-match winning streak in Paris.

On the heels of that stirring semi-final triumph, in which she did not commit an unforced error in a near-flawless final set, Sabalenka was disappointed she could not find the same level against Gauff in testing, windy conditions.

“In the past two weeks I played really tough matches, really incredible players,” she said. “Yeah, I played definitely better level than in the final. It was really honestly the worst tennis I've played in the last, I don't know how many months.

“She simply was better in these conditions than me … Sometimes that happens, you know? You just wake up, and you don't feel your best and another player goes for whatever and it works, and for you nothing is working.

“Yeah, I was struggling a lot, and I was trying my best to figure the way how to play in these conditions, but I guess today wasn't the day.”

Sabalenka’s head-to-head against the new women’s champion slipped to 5-6 and 1-2 at the majors.

She said she hoped the next time she squared off against the American that she would play that little bit smarter, less overrushed in her shot selection and able to sustain the fightback, particularly if it came in such challenging conditions.

Any post-match analysis or thoughts of Wimbledon preparations though were on the backburner for now.

“I already have a flight booked to Mykonos and alcohol, sugar. I just need a couple of days to completely forget about this crazy world … and this crazy thing that happened today,” she said. “Yeah, tequila, gummy bears, and I don't know, swimming, being like the tourist for a couple of days.”