MADRID — In another meeting of the top two players in the world, Aryna Sabalenka defeated top-ranked Iga Swiatek 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reclaim the Madrid Open title.
Second-ranked Sabalenka lost to Stuttgart final two weeks ago and had never previously taken a set against her Polish rival in three clay-court meetings.
But the Belarusian held nothing back by aggressively hitting for winners and breaking Swiatek four times in the 2 1/2-hour final.
The Australian Open champion claimed her tour-leading third title of the season and 13th of her career, including her second in Madrid after triumphing here in 2021.
“I am just super happy with this win, especially against Iga on clay,” Sabalenka said.
She told Swiatek on court, “It is always tough against each other and you always push me to my limits. I hope we will play many more times this season.”
It was the first WTA 1000 final between the top two ranked players since No. 1 Serena Williams beat No. 2 Li Na at the 2014 Miami Open. It was also only the third time in the last 40 years that the top two women met twice on clay in a single season.
Swiatek, a three-time Grand Slam winner, entered the match with a 5-2 record against Sabalenka. But she was clearly flustered early on by Sabalenka´s superb hitting. She shook her head and talked to her coach in the stands after costly hitting errors.
After Sabalenka commanded the first set and the start of the second, Swiatek found her composure and leveled the set score.
The decisive set could have gone either way.
Sabalenka finally tilted the final in her favor after a running forehand cross-court shot clipped the sideline for a winner to break Swiatek and go up 5-3.
Swiatek fended off three match points before Sabalenka smashed a forehand to finish her off.
Coming into the final, Sabalenka had never taken a set off of Swiatek in their three previous clay-court meetings.
In fact, they had faced off in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix less than two weeks ago, where Swiatek collected a dominant 6-3, 6-4 victory on indoor clay.
However, Sabalenka turned that record around in a hard-hitting display on Manolo Santana Stadium, notching her tour-leading 29th match-win of the season.
Sabalenka picked up her first title since she won her first Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open at the start of February.
Both of Sabalenka’s Madrid titles have come at the expense of the reigning World No.1 in the final. Two years ago, Sabalenka beat then-World No.1 Ashleigh Barty to collect the crown.
The growing rivalry between Sabalenka and Swiatek led to the first WTA 1000 final between the top two-ranked players on tour since No.1 Serena Williams beat No.2 Li Na to win the 2014 Miami Open.
After the back-to-back finals between Sabalenka and Swiatek, it is just the third time in the last 40 years that No.1 and No.2 have met twice on clay in a single season, along with 1984 (Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert at Amelia Island and Roland Garros) and 2013 (Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova in Madrid and Roland Garros).
Sabalenka was the first to chip away on return, and she converted her fourth break point of the day to take a critical 5-3 lead in the first set. An ace gave Sabalenka her first set point in that game, which she converted with an error-forcing backhand.
In the second set, Swiatek saw her 3-0 lead slide all the way back to 3-3, but the top seed slammed a return winner to reclaim her break advantage at 5-3. Swiatek served out the set to tie up the match, after halving her unforced errors from eight in the first set to four in the second.
