Across six hours of world-class tennis on Sunday in Madrid, Iga Swiatek and Andrey Rublev both battled to their first singles titles in the Spanish capital. Swiatek saved three match points to defeat reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka at the Caja Magica, before Rublev went the distance against a resurgent Felix Auger-Aliassime in the men's final.
While both champions have been entrenched at the top of the game in recent years, both surprised themselves along the way to their Madrid crowns.
Swiatek won her third title of 2024 with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7) victory against Sabalenka, flipping the result from last year's Madrid final between the pair.
"Physically and tennis-wise, I wasn't surprised [I could maintain the high level for three hours], but I was surprised that in the third set I felt the best mentally," said the 2022 US Open champion. "Because, yeah, I actually felt like I needed to dig through for these two hours and it didn't really work. I was, like, 'Oh, my God, am I going to feel a little bit more loose soon?' "
Swiatek drew inspiration from Rafael Nadal in the WTA 1000 final, thinking back to the Spaniard's comeback victory against Daniil Medvedev in the 2022 Australian Open final.
"I remember exactly when he was playing Medvedev in Australia, and it clicked for him," Swiatek said of the five-time Madrid champ. "He also struggled for a bit of time, he was tense, and I think stressed. That kind of gave me hope that maybe it will click, even after two hours."
Nadal's game also began to click in Madrid, where he won three straight matches for his deepest tournament run since the 2022 US Open. Swiatek went all the way with six victories, dropping just two sets en route to the title, including the opening set against Beatriz Haddad Maia in the semis.
Rublev's run on the fast Madrid clay was no stunner in the big picture, but he flew under the radar at the ATP Masters 1000 after a four-match losing streak prior to the event. The seventh seed also struggled with illness throughout the tournament, but still managed to beat Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final three rounds, battling back from a set down against both Alcaraz and Auger-Aliassime.
"I have no words. If you knew what I had been through in the past nine days you would not imagine that I would be able to win a title," he said after his 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 final victory against the resurgent Auger-Aliassime. "I'm incredibly happy. That one week changed everything because now it looks like I was not losing the last weeks in the first round!"
He later added: "I would say this is the most proud title of my career. I was almost dead every day. I was not sleeping at night. The last three, four days I didn't sleep."
Despite his difficult run entering Madrid, Rublev's 2024 season has been a strong one. His record this year stands at 21-8, with titles in Hong Kong and Madrid in addition to an Australian Open quarterfinal run. The Madrid crown is Rublev's second at the ATP Masters 1000 level after his Monte-Carlo triumph last season, also on clay.
The ATP and WTA tours converge once again over the next two weeks in Rome for another top-tier event. The European clay swing will culminate at Roland Garros beginning on May 26.
