May 11 2024 72 mins
The Madrid Open is known for being the clay court tournament where big hitters and big servers get a chance to beat the best clay court players. And it seems like Aryna Sabalenka was right on that path, beating Iga Swiatek in the 2023 final and clawing her way into the 2024 final again vs the World No.1 - but this time, the Pole had an answer.
The epic women's tournament in Madrid held the entire thing together, to be honest. The men's side was hampered with many withdrawals and injuries, including champion Andrey Rublev's illness which almost cost him the title. In what was probably the match of the year (with still a good number of great tournaments to come) Iga Swiatek was able to overcome the powerful Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion and two-time defending champion in Madrid. Swiatek did not have it easy, though: three match points came and were erased by a clutch Siwatek before she finally was able to cross the finish line after three hours, 20 minutes of pure drama and tennis of the most exquisite quality. Now, Swiatek has completed her clay court set, winning the only big clay tournament that was left for her, having won Rome two times and Roland Garros three times.
For the men's while things looked a little less exciting (and downright worrying) due to injuries and withdrawals, we still got to experience some good stories, matches and drama. Firstly, Rafael Nadal, who is likely in his farewell tour, reached the fourth round with majestic wins over Aelx De Minaur and Pedro Cachin before succumbing to a flawless Jiri Lehecka. Is there still something special in the King of Clay for 2024?
Secondly, while Alcaraz was clearly hindered by some injury in his arm he still gave everything he had, beating Jan Lennard Struff in a rematch of last year's final, and pushing Rublev to three sets. maybe the effort was too much though, as he is not playing in Rome, and is still a question mark for Roland Garros.
Finally, we cannot forget the heroics of Andrey Rublev, who overcame many an adversity to win his second ATP Masters 1000 title, arguably the greatest of all coming in the final match: a quite debilitating illness, and a healthy and fresh Felix Auger Aliassime, who himself enjoyed a particularly odd way to the final with two mid-match retirements and a withdrawal (Jannik Sinner, no less). While no match of the year, at least the fans were entertained by a good fight in a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 win from Rublev.
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