They have done it before and now, on Saturday, in Madrid, the No. 1 Iga Swiatek will face the No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. The two players can bash the ball, side to side, and even hit it down the line, and hope she can nail a winner.
Swiatek can almost be perfect, but she can drop off. However, in the past week, she played terrific, beating Beatriz Haddad Maia in three sets, and then in the semis, she ran so fast, very deep, wiping out Madison Keys 6-1, 6-3.
Once again, Sabalenka can frantic when she cannot raise her game, enough, but she is very consistent, overall, and her serve has become much better over the past one and a half years. Sometimes, she can revert her serve, but she does turn it around.
Here in Madrid, in the quarters, she pushed the teenager, Mirra Andreeva, as she knew how to figure it out and what to do. In the semis, it was a marathon, a great one, when Sabalenka outlasted Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(5).
The battle is on.
Swiatek has beaten Sabalenka 6-3 overall, and on clay, it is 3-1. But it is true that Sabalenka can be more patient, and fool her.
The wild thing is that exactly one year ago, in Madrid, Sabalenka won it, beating Swiatek 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to win it. This time, she can do it again, but it will be a gigantic challenge.
“I would say [last year’s final] was the best match I ever played, especially on clay court. I think the level was just super high,” Sabalenka. “It was clean, it was intense, powerful game. Yeah, I think that was the best final I ever played.”
Oh really? How about what Swiatek said: “I wouldn’t say we’re trying to figure [the game plan] out, because we kind of know what I should play, but sometimes it wasn’t easy to implement it. “So this is something that I want to improve. So it’s not like we need to change a lot, but we need to stick to the plan and I need to implement it a little bit better, sometimes.”
Swiatek will take it, 7-5 in the third set.
Rublev over Auger-Aliassime
Speaking of this, how about Andrey Rublev, who lost so many matches this year, as he was very erratic. But now, he began to be much more thoughtful, and patient. Over the past nine days in Madrid, he nailed it, over the No. 2, Carlos Alcaraz in the quarters, and then in the semis, he beat the American, Taylor Fritz, 6-4 6-3. Where did that come from?
“Mentally I was feeling much better and I was able to perform,” said the Russian Rublev. “Putting emotions in the right direction. For sure it has helped me to reach the final. Without this, I would not be in the final.”
But he did, and now in the final, on Sunday, he will face against Felix Auger-Aliassime, who in the semis, Jiri Lehecka had to retire, in the first set. The Canadian Auger-Aliassime has not had a very good year, but he did reach into the top 10 in 2022, so now, the current No. 35 can finally play wonderful. Both of them have to. Rublev leads his head-to-head 4-1 versus Auger-Aliassime, so the Russian is better than he is, but it could change, quickly.
“We’ve always had three-set battles, even back in 2018, I was much younger,” said Auger-Aliassime. “He’s always a player that fights hard, that’s always present every tournament, us players have highs and lows but he’s always there.”
Rublev will win it in three sets, taking the third 6-4.