The Madrid tournament gave a second chance to Every Swiatek and the Polish player took advantage of it: in a repeat of last year’s final, she changed the direction of the result and beat the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka by 7-5, 4-6 and 7-6 (7) in a memorable match between the two best players on the circuit.
For both of them, it was the longest crash of their two weeks in the Caja Mgica: three hours and eleven minutes of sweaty point by point, with maximum physical demands. They came strong to the end and decided the outcome in the third set tiebreaker. Until then, nothing that seemed definitive was.
Swiatek He thus won the twentieth title of his career, at the age of 22, and the third this year, after Doha and Indian Wells. The new crown comes when he completes his 101st week at the top of the world rankings.
The player from Warsaw can now cross out her only major pending task in the clay tournaments, since only Madrid was missing from a list that already included two trophies in Rome, two in Stuttgart and three at Roland Garros.
In the tenth confrontation between the two, Swiatek y Sabalenka They were still able to surprise themselves. The Pole resisted the barrage of power from her rival and the latter was able to tutor her in the exchanges and guess where she was going to draw the line.
Both Swiatek, but the opposite could have happened. The differences between the two were minimal, of nuance. Two great players who fought to the limit and deserved to share the glory. Swiatek cried with joy as on great occasions.
A surprise to start: Sabalenka He gave up his first serve despite making almost all of the first serves. But I got it back immediately. They were some quick first point games, with errors on both sides. If Sabalenka served at 195 km/h, Swiatek respond with services to T.
The Pole overcame a 15-40 deficit in the sixth game, the same as her rival in the next. Every time one gained a little ground, the other responded with a similar maneuver. The breakage of Swiatek It came in the eleventh game, caused by the Belarusian’s errors but sentenced by the number one with a poisoned right hand to the corner.
The second set became unpredictable with two breaks for each side in the first five games. Sabalenka He won his remaining serves with ease and scored at 6-4. It was only the second set that Swaiatek dropped in the entire tournament. The game began again when the clock showed one hour and 52 minutes of play.
It was not the Belarusian who started the third set on top. The concentration of Swiatekalways doing his thing in any circumstance, began to make an impact on Sabalenka, complaining about her own mistakes. The Pole offered a manual of passes, of blows from corner to corner, physically more complete than her rival, who reached the final with three more hours of play in her legs.
Polish resilience
Swiatek He faked twice with the break in the third game, without converting. Again, response from Sabalenka with the same medicine, but she knew that she took her opponent’s serve. The 3-1 score would have sounded almost final in any other game except this one. Swiatek broke again and hurried to the bench to hydrate.
Each point was celebrated as a battle won. Errors were reduced to a minimum: a serve, a couple of exchanges and a parallel without a possible answer. That was the script they both shared.
Night fell on Madrid and the two players were still on the court with everything yet to be decided. The 5-5 came with a blank game of Swiatek worth seeing repeated. The public, who did not fill the center court, wanted more and turned with Sabalenkawhich at least the ‘tie-break’ was guaranteed.
With the obligation to maintain her serve, the winner of four Grand Slams had a difficult time. Only her mettle allowed her to save two match points against her, without fear of giving speed to the right. The tiebreaker was served as the third hour of the game began.
The serves prevailed and there was little play. The game seemed to be heading towards the end thanks to a right of Sabalenka that left long. But he saved a match point and did the same later Swiatek. Until he finally achieved victory with a return of his rival beyond the limit.
Between last year’s final and this year’s in Madrid, both had only played once, in the WTA finals, with the Pole winning. The winner takes 1,000 ranking points and a cash prize of $963,225.