The World Nos 1 and 2 Set to Clash in Mutua Madrid Open Final
The World Nos 1 and 2, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, will contest the championship match at the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday in a repeat of last year’s WTA 1000 final in Spain’s capital city.
Last year, Sabalenka lifted the trophy for a second time after a 3-6 6-3 3-6 win over Swiatek, and the 22-year old Pole, who is looking to take her run in Madrid one win further, has dropped just one set in reaching the final this year, while the Belarusian has struggled but prevailed in her 5 matches, 4 of which went the distance.
In the early semi-final, Swiatek dismantled Madison Keys, 6-1 6-3 in just 70 minutes, while Sabalenka, playing the night match, had to fight her way back from a set down again to edge past in-form World No 4, Elena Rybakina, 1-6 7-5 7-6(5), after a 2 hour 17 minute battle.
Swiatek reached her 3rd final of the year and moved a step closer to her 3rd WTA 1000 title of 2024, having picked up the trophies at WTA 1000 events in Doha and Indian Wells.
“It was a pretty clean performance, and really solid game from myself,” Swiatek said afterwards. “I’m happy with everything.”
Keys was hoping to extend her successful run in Madrid, having already notched two Top 10 wins over Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur in the previous rounds, but Swiatek took command early on Thursday, and never let up, saving all 3 of the break points she faced, and winning 64% returning the American 18th seed’s second serve, leading to a 4-for-5 break point conversion rate.
Swiatek was swift out of the blocks, racing to a 3-0 lead, before Keys came close to pulling back on serve, blasting 3 fiery forehands in a row to reach double break point at 3-1, but the Pole produced 2 of her best serves of the day to fend off the threat, and gritted out a tough hold for 4-1.
From there, Swiatek was unchallenged in the opener as she eased to the one-set lead, and the second progressed in a similar vein, with the top seed moving ahead to an early break by carving a passing winner to lead 2-1.
While Keys held another break point to pull back on serve in the next game, Swiatek survived it and retained her advantage.
At 5-3, a huge forehand service return gave Swiatek triple match point, and the World No 1 only needed one of them to reach the final, after Keys sent a forehand long to end the encounter.
Swiatek improved to 3-1 against Keys in their head-to-head, and collected her 29th win of the season, with only Rybakina having more at 30.
“I feel really good,” Swiatek said. “I wasn’t really thinking about what happened last year. But repeating this result is a great thing.
“I’ll have a chance to play a nice match in two days. So it’s really exciting. I’m happy overall with the whole tournament.”
