One year later, Swiatek and Sabalenka assess classic final

MADRID — Of the 2,640 Hologic WTA Tour matches played last year, the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open final may well have been the finest.

It featured the world’s two best players, who have monopolized the No. 1 ranking for more than three years running. Given the result, it’s hardly surprising this titanic tilt holds a vastly different place in the minds of the participants.

“Honestly,” Iga Swiatek said last week when the subject came up, “I just think about it from time to time, but not in a really specific way.”

Aryna Sabalenka’s answer to the same question: “Honestly, I didn’t really think about it that much until this moment.”

It was Swiatek, saving three match points, who ultimately prevailed 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7) in 3 hours and 11 minutes, taking the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open title. It was the longest final of last season and only one of two featuring saved match points by the winner, a rare combination of quality and quantity.

Madrid: Draws | Scores | Order of play

With both players advancing to Thursday’s semifinals, there is a tantalizing chance they could meet in a Madrid final for the third year in a row. Sabalenka must defeat No. 17 seed Elina Svitolina and Swiatek is tasked with getting past No. 4 seed Coco Gauff.

As you can imagine, this would be a rare occurrence. They would become the first players to face each other in any WTA tournament final for three consecutive years in a quarter-century.

The last time it happened on clay, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario ended Steffi Graf’s 36-match winning streak in a third-set Hamburg tiebreaker in 1994.

One year ago, the unique atmospherics of La Caja Magica produced an unusually level field. Swiatek, a four-time Roland Garros champion, is a master of the cloying red clay. But Madrid’s thin air speeds up the points just enough to negate that advantage and enhance Sabalenka’s power.

It’s not a coincidence that the only two clay titles of Sabalenka’s career came here, in 2021 and 2023 — the second one at the expense of Swiatek in the final.

While Swiatek dominated European clay from 2020-23, winning multiple times in Paris, Rome and Stuttgart — Madrid had eluded her. Meanwhile, Sabalenka was trying to equal Petra Kvitova’s record of three Madrid titles. Swiatek led the head-to-head 7-2 and had won seven straight finals, going back to the Madrid loss in 2023.

After splitting the first two sets, it almost ended before the third-set tiebreak when, with Swiatek serving at 5-6, Sabalenka forced two match points.

Running through Swiatek’s mind was the memory of Rafael Nadal’s two-set comeback against Daniil Medvedev in the 2022 Australian Open final.

“I remember exactly when he was playing Medvedev in Australia, and it clicked for him,” Swiatek said of her idol. “That kind of gave me hope that maybe it will click, even after two hours.”

After saving a total of three match points, Swiatek managed to wriggle free and prevail after a Sabalenka backhand sailed long. Swiatek fell to the court, her hands covering her face.

“Who is going to say that women’s tennis is boring now?” Swiatek told the crowd. “Congrats as well to Aryna because we both had an amazing effort today.”

Later, Swiatek observed, “I was surprised that in the third set I felt the best mentally. Because, yeah, I actually felt like I needed to dig through for these two hours and it didn’t really work. I was, like, `Oh, my God, am I going to feel a little bit more loose soon?’ ”

Sabalenka, for her part, was stoic.

“I’m going to suffer for a day, and tomorrow I’m leaving to Rome, so I’m going to forget it quickly,” Sabalenka told reporters. “It’s my birthday tomorrow. I hope I’m going to be in a good mood.”

Then she pivoted.

“I’m going to be in a bad mood. I am 26 tomorrow. It sucks.”

It was the ninth WTA 1000 title and the 20th overall of Swiatek’s career. She became the youngest player to reach 20 titles since Caroline Wozniacki a dozen years earlier.

One year later, both combatants paid tribute to the match.

“That match was, yeah, it was a ball-buster,” Sabalenka said. “That was amazing match, even though I lost it. This is like nothing I can be upset with, to be honest. I did my best there, and she just outplayed me.”

Said Swiatek: “It’s hard to relive it, because there are not many matches that are so intense and on such a high level. Sometimes the finals are actually a bit worse level than quarterfinals or semis, because the players are a little bit tight.

“But me and Aryna, we put on a great show, for sure. Also for the fans, I think it was great to watch it.”