Third seed Simona Halep has defeated Kristina Mladenovic in three sets to successfully defend her Madrid Open title.
The world number eight was pegged back at 1-1 by her opponent in the Spanish capital on Saturday evening before getting over the line.
Halep, who battled past Dominika Cibulkova at this stage 12 months ago, eventually came out on top 7-5 6-7(5) 6-2 in just short of three hours in an entertaining and hard-fought victory.
A mammoth opening game ended with Mladenovic breaking her opponent's serve, but another long-running fourth game saw Halep level things up.
It was proving to be a tight contest, with the pair seemingly taking it in turn to break the other's serve, but Halep managed to pull away with three games on the spin to open up a lead.
Mladenovic took the second set, however, winning the tie-break 7-5 after doing well to push the Romanian all the way.
A lively deciding set ensued, beginning with Mladenovic saving two break points in the opening game, only to struggle to do likewise in the third as Halep earned a vital break.
In the end a tense seventh game culminated in defending champion Halep making the most of her third break point and getting the job done, despite her opponent's best efforts.
Daniel Lewis
