Iga Swiatek defeats Aryna Sabalenka to win Rome and complete rare Madrid-Rome sweep
She’s the first player to do the double in the same year since 2013, when Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams did it.
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…
Swiatek has now won her last eight finals in a row.
