World number one Iga Swiatek holds her nerve to beat world number two Aryna Sabalenka and win her first Madrid Open.
World number one Iga Swiatek saved three championship points to beat world number two Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 4-6 7-6 and win her first Madrid Open title.
The first meeting of the top two players in the world this season kept the Spanish crowd enthralled for more than three hours, and featured some extraordinary power, brilliant shot-making and superb defence.After the players exchanged early service breaks, they settled down and it was the serve that dominated proceedings.
But it was Swiatek who seized the initiative, forcing a couple of errors from her opponent to go 6-5 up and she showed nerves of steel on her own serve to take the set. Sabalenka did her best not to let her rival settle into a rhythm and was rewarded when the pressure told on Swiatek as she served to stay in the second set, the Australian Open champion sending a smart forehand down the line to level the match at one set apiece.
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