(Madrid) World No.1 Iga Swiatek won the Madrid tournament after a standoff lasting more than three hours with world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka, finally beaten 7-5, 4-6, 7- 6 (9/7) Saturday, three weeks before Roland-Garros.
Swiatek dismissed three match points in favor of Sabalenka: the first two at 6 games to 5 on her serve, and another in the deciding game, at 7 points to 6. The 22-year-old Pole won in her second opportunity after 3 h 11 min of the match, after a first obtained at 6 points to 5.
A year ago on Spanish clay, in the final, Swiatek lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Sabalenka.
PHOTO BERNAT ARMANGUE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Aryna Sabalenka does not hide her disappointment after her defeat.
On the throne of world tennis for the 101e week, the three-time winner of Roland-Garros won her third title of the year, her third in WTA 1000, after Doha and Miami.
At the meeting of the final of the Madrid tournament as in 2023, the two best players in the world did not reach there at the same tempo.
PHOTO SUSANA VERA, REUTERS
Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka
Apart from a quarter-final in three long sets of two and a half hours (against Haddad Maia), Swiatek experienced it at a cruising pace: four matches in two sets, only twenty games left on the way, and barely more than Maximum 1 hour 15 minutes spent on the court.
On the contrary, four of Sabalenka’s five face-to-face matches until the final stretched over three sets, like her semi-final lasting more than two and a quarter hours against world No.4 Elena Rybakina, came within two points of victory.
Before Roland-Garros, Swiatek and Sabalenka are now expected in Rome next week.