The woman who has reigned in tennis for two years, the young Iga Swiatek, had a thorn in her side in Madrid, the last major title on clay that she had yet to win at the age of 22. The Pole took it off this Saturday against Aryna Sabalenka, the number two in the world, the same one who defeated her 12 months ago in one of the most exciting finals in the history of the tournament. A year later, on a finally sunny day in the San Fermín neighborhood, the Warsaw team takes revenge against the Belarusian in another formidable clash at the Manolo Santana stadium: it imposes its solidity from the back of the court, driven by its footwork and her powerful legs, and her proposal this time surpasses that of her rival, who shows her usual manual, the whip after whip of the player who hits the ball the hardest. Sabalenka (25 years old), the only one who has managed to take number one from him in the last two years – between September and November 2023 – is so close to claiming victory again that he has three match points in the third set, but it is Swiatek who takes the final tie break (7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7), 3h 11m), the Masters after all, to steal the crown and further expand his hegemony on the circuit. With the victory, she widens the distance in the ranking with the Belarusian and finally reigns at the WTA 1000 in Madrid, where she receives the trophy from the hands of the fabulous Garbiñe Mugurza, the winner of two majors and former number one who two weeks ago announced with 30 years his retirement.
There is no surprise in the script of the clash: Sabalenka’s vertical tennis, a game of heads or tails in a city whose altitude – about 650 meters above sea level – helps the balls fly, compared to Swiatek’s persistent hammering From the bottom. The number one manages to prevail in a match so close that when the second set ended, each had won 71 points (121 to 116 at the end).
In the third round, the Pole prevails over a volcano that launches a spectacular repertoire of winners: Sabalenka finishes the tournament with more than 215 winners, her highest record since the 2023 Australian Open, when she added 247. The order and the head of Swiatek, the player who sometimes looks like a Swiss watch with her reliable and constant tennis, destabilize the Belarusian in the final stretch. The number two is close to clinching the match on three occasions, but the Pole always scores one more ball, resists three match points and it is she who finally raises the trophy at the second opportunity that is presented to her: she subtracts a serve from Sabalenka, who throws his backhand long, and already drops the racket, throws himself on the clay and covers his face with his hands in the Manolo Santana. “Who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring?” says Swiatek at the foot of the court, a kind of dig at the Belarusian, who at the beginning of the tournament said that she preferred to watch the men’s circuit because it was “more interesting” and He said that he did not watch his rivals’ matches, that is, the Pole or Elena Rybakina, the tennis player with the most victories this season.
Iga Swiatek poses with the trophy this Saturday at the Caja Mágica after receiving it from Garbiñe Muguruza.chema Moya (EFE)
The victory further strengthens the player from Warsaw, the tennis player who idolizes Rafa Nadal – in a press conference she said that she was inspired by him during the tension of the third set – and who has dominated the circuit since Ashleigh Bartey retired in March 2022 at only 25 years old because tennis did not fulfill her. The Australian, in fact, pointed to her as her heir when she stepped aside from her. Swiatek has taken the baton and elevated it: she already has more majors (four) than Barty herself (three) and she has ruled the circuit with an iron fist ever since.
The number one has conquered the Madrid arena in her third participation in the Masters. In the first she fell in the third round, but last year she already reached the final. It is the icing on the cake that was left on the clay for a tennis player who was initially described as an earthling, but who is much more: in December 2021, she dispensed with the person who had been her coach for the previous four years, Piotr Sierzputowski, and joined forces with Tomasz Witkorowski and the big titles on cement began to arrive, such as the 2022 US Open – he also has nine WTA 1000s (six on hard) and some WTA Finals. She only has to be crowned on grass, a surface on which she was junior champion at Wimbledon in 2018. Her victory today also prevents Sabalenka (two majors: Australian Open 2022 and 2023) from lifting her third title in the Masters and equaling the record of the Czech Petra Kvitova as the woman who has won the tournament the most times.
The one from Warsaw has already won Roland Garros three times (2020, 2022 and 2023) and has won the Foro Italico in Rome on two other occasions (2021 and 2022), the other WTA 1000 on clay on the circuit. With the crown in Madrid, Swiatek, a player with tennis, physique and the head to, perhaps, mark an era in a sport that lost Serena Williams, one of its greatest icons, almost two years ago, closes the circle on clay and She is projected for Paris as the great favorite to lift the Musketeers Cup again.
Swiatek hits forehands this Saturday during the final against Sabalenka. JUANJO MARTIN (EFE)
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2024-05-04 22:55:37
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