Ashleigh Barty said adios to the Mutua Madrid Open after her best result at the WTA 1000 in the Spanish capital. The world number one got to the title match but eventually fell just short of her fourth trophy of the year. On the other side of the next was an Aryna Sabalenka in the form of her life who was able to bring an end to a 16-win streak on the red stuff from the Australian, who had also won her last ten matches against Top-10 players.

Barty says goodbye to Madrid with a smile on her face, happy with her work there. The Australian shared her impressions after an electric final:

Proud of her tournament. “I’m always proud at the end of every tournament. I think whenever you have an opportunity to leave the tournament with a smile, that’s always a good thing. That’s certainly what we’ve been able to do this week”.

“It’s been fantastic. Another opportunity to play against quality players. To put yourself in that last match to win a title, it’s always kind of what the goal is”.

“At the end of the day you want to be trying to win those titles as regularly as possible. You can’t win them all, but certainly each time you step out on the court, try to go about it the right way. I felt like I certainly did that all this week. So proud definitely”.

Clashes with Sabalenka, always tight. “All of our matches are always close. There’s always just a couple of points, a couple of games. It’s always a very fine line against the best players in the world that you have to kind of tread. Sometimes you have to take that risk. Other times they’re going to find a way to win the match”.

“That’s the beauty of our sport. Every time you step on the court there’s an uncertainty. You go out there and you just try your best on that given day. If it’s enough, it’s enough. If it’s not, that’s all right as well”.