Making up for her loss in last year's final to Petra Kvitova, the clay court triumph ensured the Dutchwoman Bertens will move to a career-best fourth in the world rankings. Bertens came back from 4-2 down in the first set against French Open champion Halep by winning the next three games, striking the first blow in a gripping final full of drama which lasted one hour and 27 minutes. Roland-Garros ‘Fills me with sadness’ - Halep withdraws from French Open 21/05/2021 AT 10:14 Bertens, who hit four aces among her 25 winners in an excellent performance, got off to an ideal start in the opening game of the second by breaking Halep, who was playing in her third Madrid final after triumphs in 2016 and 2017. The Romanian stayed in contention but was dealt a terrible dose of luck in the eighth game which handed more momentum to Bertens. A shot from Bertens was heading way out and would have handed Halep two break points but the wayward ball struck the Romanian's body, earning her opponent a fortuitous point that eventually led to her holding serve. Bertens earned her first championship point with a scorching ace but Halep saved it with a drop volley at the net, only to then hand her rival another one by finding the net with a careless shot. Bertens missed out again but earned a third championship point when Halep narrowly missed the baseline and she finally seized her ninth WTA title when the world number two hit a backhand out. It was Bertens' fourth victory over a Grand Slam winner during the week on her way to the title. "At the beginning I was a little bit searching for my game still, but I think the rest of the match I played really solid, really smart," Bertens told a news conference. "Maybe a little bit lucky like on the 4-3 game when I hit the ball in the fence and it hit her but sometimes you need a little luck. I'm just happy how I was able to finish the match." "I just feel really happy. I am really proud of this week. I played some good tennis and will be number four in the world on Monday, it is just all amazing things," Bertens added. Halep had no complaints, congratulating her opponent while admitting she played into Bertens' hands. "She played better tennis tonight. She deserved to win the match, definitely," she said. "I think I played wrong, and I'm upset about that. I played stupidly today, I did everything that she liked. It was a good match from her. And she deserved to win the title because she played really good tennis throughout the whole week." ATP Rome Injuries, upsets and champions rising - What did we learn from Italian Open? 16/05/2021 AT 23:14<doc-sep>Competing in her second straight Madrid final, the 7th seed Kiki Bertens took down a former champion Simona Halep 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 27 minutes for the most significant title in a career. This was the 11th WTA final for the Dutch and her ninth title, joining Bianca Andreescu and Ashleigh Barty as the third first-time Premier Mandatory champion this season. With this outcome, Naomi Osaka will stay ahead of Simona Halep at the top of the WTA rankings list while Bertens moves inside the top-4 for the first time in a career, joining the list with some big names who have managed to conquer events at this level before her. Halep and Bertens battled for the sixth time and the Dutch delivered the third win, the second in a row after Cincinnati last year when she also celebrated in the title match. Halep had some impressive results in Madrid in the last couple of years and she fought well this well as well, moving one win away from the third crown at Caja Magica but standing no chance today against the stronger opponent. The Romanian landed in a staggering 87% of the first serve although that gave her nothing, dropping half of the points behind the initial shot and getting broken five times from eight chances offered to Bertens. On the other hand, Kiki fought off three out of five break points and had a dominant role on the court, firing 25 winners in comparison to only nine from Halep who couldn't forge the victory with her defense. The first set saw five breaks of serve in six games from 2-1 for Halep, with Bertens seizing three straights good return games for a 6-4 after 37 minutes. The Dutch delivered a crucial break at 2-2 in the second set after a forehand error from Simona, saving a break point at 4-3 and sealing the deal on the third match point in game ten to start a massive celebration of her career-best result at the age of 27.<doc-sep>Third-seeded Simona Halep of Romania is back in the championship match of the Mutua Madrid Open after recording a 6-2, 6-7 (2) 6-0 victory over Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in Friday's semifinals. Halep will be looking to win the event for the third time when she faces Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the final. The seventh-seeded Bertens defeated American Sloane Stephens, the No. 8 seed, 6-2, 7-5 in the other semifinal. Halep won in Madrid in 2016 and 2017 and is in title match for the fourth time. She finished off unseeded Bencic of Switzerland in 1 hour, 57 minutes. "It is normal at this level, I expect tough matches all the time," Halep told reporters. "I was lucky that during the week I had short matches. But always when I step on the court, I'm ready for a three-hour match, so I'm OK." A victory in the title match would be the 19th of Halep's career and would also allow her to regain the World No. 1 ranking. The Romanian lost that in January when Naomi Osaka of Japan moved to the top spot. Bencic put up a strong fight to win the tiebreaker in the second set but Halep rolled to an easy win in the third. "I found Simona was playing better than me the whole match," Bencic told reporters. "But overall, I'm pretty happy how I fought. I found that I defended pretty good. It was opposite today, I was mostly the defense, and Simona was the aggressive one, so I think that makes the difference as well." Meanwhile, Bertens posted a straight-set victory to reach the championship match for the second straight year. She lost to Petra Kvitova in last year's final. Bertens will be seeking her ninth career title when she takes the court against Halep. "It is going to be a really tough battle, I would say," Bertens told reporters. "We have had great battles in the past. She loves clay. She loves to play here as well. She won it already twice. I love it also here. So I think it is just going to be a great battle and yeah, I'm looking forward to it." Story continues Bertens hit 12 winners in the victory over Stephens -- who had six -- in the 89-minute match. It was the first time she has beaten Stephens in three attempts. "She can hit a lot of balls back and still hit unbelievable shots," Bertens said of Stephens. "So you always have to be ready for that turnaround. And I think it was good today that I broke her straight back when she broke me and that I was still able to fight for the second set." --Field Level Media<doc-sep>Last updated on .From the section Tennis Kiki Bertens (left) was runner-up last year in Madrid Romania's Simona Halep missed out on regaining the world number one ranking as she lost the Madrid Open final to Kiki Bertens. A win would have seen Halep overtake world number one Naomi Osaka but she lost 6-4 6-4. The title is the biggest of Bertens' career and she will climb to fourth in the rankings on Monday, making her the highest-ranked Dutchwoman in history. She also becomes the first woman to win in Madrid without dropping a set. Halep is the fourth Grand Slam champion Bertens has beaten during the tournament and she will now been seen as one of the favourites for the French Open, which begins on 27 May. Both players struggled to hold serve with eight breaks across the two sets - three to Halep and five to Bertens - but the Dutchwoman was the more dominant. Last year's runner-up hit 25 winners and four aces with her forehand in particular causing problems.<doc-sep>
Open this photo in gallery Kiki Bertens of Netherlands celebrates defeating Simona Halep Julian Finney/Getty Images Kiki Bertens won the biggest title of her career on Saturday, beating Simona Halep 6-4 6-4 in the Madrid Open final while also becoming the first woman ever to win the championship without dropping a set. Making up for her loss in last year’s final to Petra Kvitova, the clay court triumph ensured the Dutchwoman Bertens will move to a career-best fourth in the world rankings. Bertens came back from 4-2 down in the first set against French Open champion Halep by winning the next three games, striking the first blow in a gripping final full of drama which lasted one hour and 27 minutes. Story continues below advertisement Bertens, who hit four aces among her 25 winners in an excellent performance, got off to an ideal start in the opening game of the second by breaking Halep, who was playing in her third Madrid final after triumphs in 2016 and 2017. The Romanian stayed in contention but was dealt a terrible dose of luck in the eighth game which handed more momentum to Bertens. A shot from Bertens was heading way out and would have handed Halep two break points but the wayward ball struck the Romanian’s body, earning her opponent a fortuitous point that eventually led to her holding serve. Bertens earned her first championship point with a scorching ace but Halep saved it with a drop volley at the net, only to then hand her rival another one by finding the net with a careless shot. Bertens missed out again but earned a third championship point when Halep narrowly missed the baseline and she finally seized her ninth WTA title when the world number two hit a backhand out. It was Bertens’ fourth victory over a Grand Slam winner during the week on her way to the title.