Iga Swiatek rejoiced with her first title of the tennis tournament in Madrid, after beating last year's champion Aryna Sabalenka in an instant classic 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7) in the final in the Spanish capital in nearly three hours and 15 minutes of marathon battle.
The match between the two top two in the women's world rankings started with breaks being traded before the Pole hit a decisive blow in the 11th game. She made a second break and then successfully served for the lead. In the second set, the two-time champion from Belarus twice lost a break advantage before making no mistake on her third break of the set. In the decisive third set, Swiatek showed great character after falling behind with a break, and then had to save two match points at 5-6 in favor of her opponent. In the tiebreak, the world No. 1 saved another match point for Sabalenka before triumphing on her second chance to close out the set and the match.
Swiatek won her seventh match out of ten with Sabalenka, lifting the trophy in Madrid for the first time in her career. Last year, she lost to the Belarusian in three sets. For the Polish tennis player, this is the jubilee 20th title in her career, and the impressive thing is that she reaches this feat from 24 finals. Swiatek won her third trophy since the beginning of the year after wins in Doha and Indian Wells.
Sabalenka remains with 14 titles, but also 13 lost finals. Earlier in the year, the world number two became Australian Open champion for the second time in her career, but also lost the final in Brisbane to Elena Rybakina. /BGNES
