In Stuttgart (Germany) in April, already on clay, his favorite surface, Swiatek won 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

With this victory in the Spanish capital, Sabalenka bumps a little the armor of invincibility of Swiatek on ochre, three weeks before Roland-Garros (May 28-June 11).

Because it inflicts on the 21-year-old Pole, double champion of the Parisian Grand Slam (2020 and 2022), her first defeat on clay in 2023, after nine victories in a row.

More significantly, this is only the fourth match on the spring flagship surface that Swiatek has lost since his triumphant first campaign in Paris, in the autumn of 2020 (the fault of Covid-19). During that time, she collected 46 victories there.

"I'm very happy with this success, especially against Iga, and especially on clay," Sabalenka said.

Inevitably, the imposing Belarusian, who celebrated her 25th birthday on Friday, asserts herself as a major opponent for the world N.1 in the perspective of Roland-Garros.

Especially since she took on a new dimension in 2023 by winning her first Grand Slam title, at the Australian Open in January. The proof, with now 29 matches won (for 4 losses), she is the player who has accumulated the most victories since the beginning of the season.

Third title in 2023

The title conquered in the "Caja magica" of Madrid is his third of the year, after Melbourne and Adelaide just before.

But there is a but: the altitude of the Spanish capital (more than 600 m) offers Sabalenka particularly favorable conditions for his powerful game and serve.

"I don't want to blame my defeat on the conditions, she played a very good game," Swiatek said.

Aryna Sabalenka on May 6 in Madrid © Thomas COEX / AFP

Will Sabalenka be as comfortable in a different environment, in Rome next week, and then in Paris?

Meanwhile, for the first time in four face-to-face meetings on clay with Swiatek, she found the key. Until then, her two previous victories against the Pole had taken place on hard courts at the Masters, in 2021 and 2022.

It took the world N.2 to fight nearly two and a half hours with the N.1 to overcome it on Saturday night. Until the last game, in which Swiatek saved three match balls, including one from a snatch pass almost sitting on the Madrid clay, and another from a winning return on a serve at 196 km/h, before giving way on the fourth.

Before that, Sabalenka had made the best start before Swiatek, who had become more solid, came back to level a set everywhere.

In the decisive set, intense, where the two players surrendered blow for blow, Sabalenka escaped three games to nil, Swiatek stuck well once again, but, faced with the repeated over-powerful assaults of her opponent, she ended up dropping the flag.

© 2023 AFP