THE Netherlands’ Kiki Bertens pulled off a surprise 6-4, 6-4 victory over Simona Halep to win the Madrid Open on Saturday, denying the Romanian a return to the top of the world rankings, 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 Bertens move to a career-best fourth in the world rankings today and become the highest ranked Dutchwoman in history.

“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.

For her part, Halep had no complaints, congratulating her opponent while admitting she played into Bertens’ hands.

“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,” Halep said.

Meanwhile, Stefanos Tsitsipas pulled off one of the biggest wins of his short but remarkable career by beating Rafael Nadal 6-4 2-6 6-3 on Spanish soil Saturday to book his place in the Madrid Open final against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Tsitsipas, 20, had never won a set in his previous three meetings against clay-court specialist and 11-time French Open champion Nadal, but the Greek drew first blood by saving a break point to hold in the 10th game and take the first set.

By his own high standards, Nadal’s clay-court swing has been disappointing.

He lost in the last four in both Monte Carlo and Barcelona, arriving in Madrid without winning either tournament for the first time since 2015.

(SD-Agencies)

“I have not played well enough,” admitted Nadal. “I’ve won a lot for many years on this surface but this year it hasn’t been like that.”

Kiki Bertens wins Madrid Open to make history

Kiki Bertens denied Simona Halep a return to world No. 1 as she beat the Romanian to win the Madrid Open, while creating history herself. Last year’s runner-up, Bertens went one further this time around, inflicting an impressive 6-4 6-4 defeat on the reigning French Open champion at the Premier Mandatory event and became the highest ranked Dutch woman in history in the process. There’s no question the Dutch ace has become one of the most feared dirtballers on the WTA Tour and the seventh seed didn’t drop a single set during an impressive week at the Caja Magica. She is the first woman to win the title in Madrid without losing a set. In victory, she will rise to world No. 4 when the rankings are next released on Monday – eclipsing Betty St?ve’s previous Dutch record of No. 5 – but with no points to defend in Rome and only third-round points to defend in Paris, she could even climb to the top of the leaderboard come the end of the clay-court season.

That, of course, is a long way off and there’s no doubt she will simply enjoy this moment in what is the biggest title of her career. For Halep, who also was beaten by Bertens in the final of the Premier event in Cincinnati last season, it was a day of frustration. She led by a break twice in the opening set but struggled to wrestle back control once her opponent had got her nose in front. There was, as ever, plenty of fight from the third seed but Bertens remained calm in the face of adversity as she landed the title.