Aryna Sabalenka, second world player and defending champion, joined world number 1 Iga Swiatek in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid, as in 2023. To get there, she had to deploy and overthrow world number 4 Elena Rybakina ( 1-6, 7-5, 7-6) in 2 hours and 17 minutes of play this Thursday evening. For her part, the Pole qualified in the afternoon by outclassing the American Madison Keys (20th) 6-1, 6-3 in 70 minutes. A year ago on Spanish clay, Sabalenka won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 against the future triple winner of Roland-Garros in the final.
Rybakina, freshly titled in Stuttgart (Germany), seemed to have control of the game when she counted a set and a break in advance in the second set. But the Belarusian double winner of the Australian Open equalized at 4 games all before reversing the situation.
Apart from a quarter-final in three long sets of two and a half hours (against Haddad Maia), Swiatek went through the Madrid tournament in complete peace, unlike Sabalenka, four of whose five matches stretched over three sets.
For their first tournament on clay in 2024, in April in Stuttgart, the 22-year-old Pole was stopped in the semi-finals by Rybakina, and the 25-year-old Belarusian a round earlier (by Vondrousova).