World No. 1 Iga Swiatek won the €7,679,965 WTA 1,000 in Madrid after beating world number two Arina Sabalenka of Belarus in the final on Saturday by 7- 5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7).
Swiatek prevailed at the end of a match of over three hours, getting revenge after last year’s final won by Sabalenka. Belarus had three match points in the 3rd set, but Iga played perfectly under pressure. Asked what his secret was, the world leader talked about the courage in the game. And the statistics prove the Pole right, she managed a similar number of winners as Sabalenka, recognized in the circuit as the player who executes the most direct winning shots (37 vs 40, in last night’s duel).
“I think it was more about who was less stressed and who could play with more freedom. I also think that at many points in the game I made very brave decisions. Sometimes I was a little behind from this point of view in the disputes with Aryna and I tried to force myself from the beginning to be more aggressive, to take risks.
I spent a lot of the match trying to relax a bit more. I felt I could play better because of how the previous days were for us, but a game against Aryana is never easy. I had a lot of thoughts and I’m very happy that I mentally held on when she had 3 match balls. I was also helped by the service in those moments, I didn’t think about the score, I just concentrated on each point“, revealed Swiatek, quoted by Punto de Break.
Swiatek remains modest after the Madrid title: “Titles and records will only matter years from now”
The Pole is rightfully considered the “queen of clay”, collecting career titles in Stuttgart (2), Rome (2) and Roland Garros (3). Madrid was missing from her record, but now she added it, so she became the second youngest athlete in history to have recorded all her important tournaments on the red surface.
“Honestly, I never think about these things, statistics. Every tournament is a different story for me. Obviously, it’s good to have this data on Wikipedia, but I think it will matter years from now when I look back. Then the titles won and the records will mean a lot, but for now I am happy that I won this tournament and it is not more special that I did it for the first time. I try to win every tournament I go to“, said the Polish woman.
I had a lot of emotions. I am very proud of myself and very happy. When you have matches like this, where you have to fight a lot, you have an even better feeling when you win. I only realized after the match that the tiebreak was crazy, during the match I didn’t realize it, I was just thinking about the next point | Iga Swiatek.
With 32 wins in 36 matches in 2024, Swiatek reached his 3rd title of the year, after Doha and Indian Wells. She took her 20th career trophy at just 22 years old, no other athlete since Caroline Wozniacki (2012) has managed to achieve such a number of titles won so early.
Iga ticked off the 7th final in a row she won, being close to equaling her career-best streak: in the period from Roland Garros 2020 to US Open 2022, the Pole prevailed in the 10 finals she reached.
Swiatek now has 9 WTA 1000 tournaments in her career, equaling Halep and Kvitova. Only Serena Williams (13) and Victoria Azarenka (10) have achieved more since this tournament format has existed.
With Saturday’s success, Iga Swiatek secured top spot on the circuit in the medium term, with her now around 3,500 points ahead of Sabalenka. Aryna would have lost her second place if she didn’t make it to the finals, but even so, the gap between her and Cori Gauff is minimal.
Tags: Swiatek explained beat Sabalenka Belarusian match points difference
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