World number one and top seed, Iga Swiatek saved three championship points to defeat world number two Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 4-6 7-6 (9-7) to secure her first Madrid Open title.
Swiatek was a break down early in the decider and it looked like she was going to hand her rival the title again, but she dug deep to save three match points in the 13th game to exert revenge from last year’s final.
The first meeting of the world’s top two players this year, lived up to its billing with some brilliant shot-making and power play being dished out to the delight of the Madrid crowd who enjoyed the three-hour excitement.
After a trade of breaks in the first two games, both players showed why they’re at the top of the women’s rankings with some sensational tennis that took the match the whole hog. The Pole eventually snatching victory in the third set tie-breaker.
Sabalenka would have become only the second woman after Petra Kvitova to win a hatrick of titles on the Madrid dirt, but the Pole held her nerve to win her 20th career title and maintain her stranglehold at the top of women’s tennis.