The number one in the world, Iga Swiatekwon the tournament for the third time in his career WTA 1000 of Rome after beating the Belarusian in the final this Saturday Aryna Sabalenka (N.2) by a resounding 6-2 and 6-3.
Eight days before Roland Garros (May 26-June 9), the 22-year-old Pole further reinforces her favorite status after winning this 21st title in her career and the fourth in 2024, after those added in Doha, Indian Wells and Madrid, all category 1000.
Swiatek is the first player since the American Serena Williams in 2013 to manage to chain titles in Madrid and Rome, the two big events on clay before the Parisian Grand Slam.
Sabalenka had also been his victim two weeks ago in the final in the Spanish capital. This Saturday was Swiatek’s eighth victory over her great Belarusian rival in eleven meetings.
In the final in Madrid the battle was very even and even Sabalenka had three match points in her favor, before losing 7-5, 4-6 and 7-6 (7). The final in Rome was much less exciting and practically one-sided.
Swiatek has not lost a set this year at the Foro Italico and began to make her superiority clear in the third game, when she broke her opponent’s serve.
Visibly frustrated by her numerous failures and by the pressure she was under from the Pole’s aggressive play, Sabalenka wasted seven break points in the second and fourth games of the second set. Swiatek overcame these difficulties and returned to take control of the game, to sentence it quickly and not give the option for more shocks.
The successes in Madrid and Rome put Swiatek, in case there were any doubts, in pole position for Roland Garros, where she has already been champion three times (2020, 2022 and 2023).
In clay she is the queen. He was competing in his eleventh final on that surface and won nine of them. This year, on land, she has accumulated fourteen victories and a single defeat, the one she suffered in Stuttgart against the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, champion in Rome last year and lost this time in the Italian capital.
Source: Ambito
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