Iga Swiatek defeats Aryna Sabalenka to win Rome and complete rare Madrid-Rome sweep

Two weeks ago, Iga Swiatek battled for more than three hours—and fought off three match points—to survive Aryna Sabalenka in a nail-biter in the final of Madrid, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7).

Today, in the final of Rome, there were no twists or turns.

Swiatek marched past Sabalenka, 6-2, 6-3, to win the Internazionali BNL d'Italia for the third time in the last four years, having also conquered the Italian capital in 2021 and 2022.

And she achieved a lot with the victory.

First of all, she’s the first player, male or female, to win four tour-level titles this year. All four of her titles have come at WTA 1000 events—Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and now Rome. She was tied with Jannik Sinner and Elena Rybakina at three titles on the year.

Secondly, it’s the milestone 10th WTA title of her career. Her six WTA 1000 triumphs before this year came at Rome in 2021, Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome in 2022 and Beijing in 2023. The world No. 1 now has a total of 21 tour-level titles in her career.

And perhaps most impressively, she’s the first tennis player, male or female, to win Madrid and Rome in the same year since 2013. It happened on both the men’s and women’s sides that year, with Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams pulling off the sweep—and then both going on to win Roland Garros a few weeks later…

And it doesn’t end there. Since falling to a No. 3-ranked Jessica Pegula in the semifinals of Montreal last August, Swiatek has now won her last six matches in a row against Top 3 players.

SWIATEK’S WINNING STREAK VS TOP 3 PLAYERS:
d. No. 3 Gauff in 2023 Beijing SFs, 6-2, 6-3
d. No. 3 Gauff in 2023 WTA Finals RR, 6-0, 7-5
d. No. 1 Sabalenka in 2023 WTA Finals SFs, 6-3, 6-2
d. No. 2 Sabalenka in 2024 Madrid F, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7)
d. No. 3 Gauff in 2024 Rome SFs, 6-4, 6-3
d. No. 2 Sabalenka in 2024 Rome F, 6-2, 6-3

And since finishing runner-up to Sabalenka in Madrid last year, Swiatek has now won her last eight finals in a row, too.

SWIATEK’S WINNING STREAK IN FINALS:
d. Muchova in 2023 Roland Garros F, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
d. Siegemund in 2023 Warsaw F, 6-0, 6-1
d. Samsonova in 2023 Beijing F, 6-2, 6-2
d. Pegula in 2023 WTA Finals F, 6-1, 6-0
d. Rybakina in 2024 Doha F, 7-6 (8), 6-2
d. Sakkari in 2024 Indian Wells F, 6-4, 6-0
d. Sabalenka in 2024 Madrid F, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7)
d. Sabalenka in 2024 Rome F, 6-2, 6-3

Unlike her marathon victory in the Spanish capital two Saturdays earlier, Swiatek was in front from start to finish against Sabalenka in the Italian capital, grabbing the first break of the match (at love) for a 2-1 lead and then eventually breaking again for 5-2 en route to taking the opening set. Then, after five straight holds to start the second set, she won four games in a row to end it.

Swiatek hit 11 winners to just 8—yes, 8—unforced errors in the entire match, while Sabalenka was in the negatives, 18 to 28.

But perhaps the most important stat was break points—Swiatek converted four of seven, while Sabalenka went zero for seven.

“Well, overall I try to treat these points as any other point,” Swiatek said of her break point statistics. “I’m not feeling like I’m under so much pressure, maybe also because I know I’m a great returner, so even if I’m going to get broken, I can work it out.

“In this tournament, my serve was really helping me. All this work  we’ve been putting in paid off in those important moments. So I’m really happy with that because that’s what we’ve been working for.”