World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka was stopped in her tracks in unexpected fashion as she fell to Qinwen Zheng at the Italian Open on Wednesday.
Aryna Sabalenka failed to close out the match serving at 5-4 up in the second set, but immediately rallied to beat Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-5 to reach the Madrid Open final.
Aryna Sabalenka marched all the way through to the 2025 Miami Open title without dropping a set.
Mirra Andreeva confirmed her status as the rising star of the women's game with a sensational win over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final.
Iga Swiatek is set to lose ground to Aryna Sabalenka in the battle for world No 1 after falling to Mirra Andreeva in her Indian Wells semi-final.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka is the top seed for her third consecutive WTA 1000 event of the 2025 season, while defending champion Iga Swiatek is seeded second.