Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka will meet in the final of WTA 1000 Mutua Madrid Open. It is the second consecutive tournament with both the world's two top players playing in the final, after WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where Swiatek prevailed in two sets to take the title.
Both the finalists secured their spot in Saturday's title clash after defeating their semifinals opponents in straight sets. Swiatek has proved to be a nightmare match-up for Veronika Kudermetova. The Russian approached her first ever clay semifinal to play against the opponent, who gave her away just two single games in the last two matches between themselves. This time was not much different, as Swiatek dominated Kudermetova again and advanced into the final after condifent win with a score 6-1 6-1. Some of the games were quite tight, as the world's number 13 managed even to create 5 breakpoints throughout whole the match, but Swiatek was untouchable in the crucial points. The amount of 21 unforced errors did not help Kudermetova to take up the fight succesfully, while the Pole had score the slight positive ratio between winners and UFEs.
Aryna Sabalenka has also did not feel too much trouble in her semifinal's clash against Maria Sakkari. The world's number 2 has needed just 86 minutes to move into the final with a score 6-4 6-1. The Belarusian started the match well with an early break, but Sakkari managed to come back level on serve despite being 0-3 down. Both players were defending breakpoints in the middle part of this set, but Sabalenka retook her advantage in 10th game, when she broke again to grab the opening set. The second set started with another promise of good contention to come, as both players created breakpoints in the opening games. Sabalenka raised up the pace in 4th game, breaking her opponent to love and run away with the score, winning 5 games in a row to secure the easy win in second set and advance into the final.
Both the top ranked players from WTA ranking approaching second consecutive final are the anothe proof of WTA competition being really consistent this season. Aryna Sabalenka will try to repeat her success from 2 years ago, when she played in the final of Mutua Madrid Open 2021, and took the title after straight sets win over Maria Sakkari. It is Swiatek's first final in Madrid, but the Pole will be favorite there, as she is a super dominant player on clay and has a confidence boost in the form of the confident victory over Sabalenka in the final of WTA 500 in Stuttgart two weeks ago (full story here).
