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Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates after defeating Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, in the Italian Open tennis tournament final match at Rome's Foro Italico, Saturday, May 18, 2024. Swiatek won 6-2/6-3. Alessandra Tarantino, AP Photo


Iga Swiatek, of Poland, celebrates after defeating Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, in the Italian Open tennis tournament final match at Rome's Foro Italico, Saturday, May 18, 2024. Swiatek won 6-2/6-3. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

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Italian Open

Associated Press

<div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1716102063533AP24139607680132.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates after defeating Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, in the Italian Open tennis tournament final match at Rome&#x27;s Foro Italico, Saturday, May 18, 2024. Swiatek won 6-2/6-3. Alessandra Tarantino, AP Photo"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates after defeating Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, in the Italian Open tennis tournament final match at Rome&#x27;s Foro Italico, Saturday, May 18, 2024. Swiatek won 6-2/6-3. <em>Alessandra Tarantino, AP Photo</em></span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">ROME (AP) — If Iga Swiatek can keep up her form, it&#x27;s hard to imagine anyone preventing her from winning a fourth French Open title.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The top-ranked Swiatek dominated in her latest meeting with No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, winning the Italian Open final 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday to earn her third trophy on Rome&#x27;s red clay.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Swiatek didn&#x27;t drop a set at the Foro Italico and extended her tour winning streak to 12 matches. In the semifinals, she was almost as dominant in a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 3 Coco Gauff.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Roland Garros starts next weekend and Swiatek will be aiming for a third straight title in Paris and fourth overall.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;Obviously I am confident. I feel like I&#x27;m playing great tennis,&quot; Swiatek said. &quot;But it doesn&#x27;t change the fact that I really want to stay humble and really focused on getting everything step by step. Grand Slams are different. There is different pressure on the court and off the court.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;These are hard seven matches that you need to win, so I don&#x27;t take anything for granted. I&#x27;ll just work hard as I did in Madrid and Rome and we&#x27;ll see.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/5/5/swiatek-saves-3-match-points-to-beat-sabalenka-in-madrid-open-final-1341"></a><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/5/5/swiatek-saves-3-match-points-to-beat-sabalenka-in-madrid-open-final-1341">READ: Swiatek saves 3 match points to beat Sabalenka in Madrid Open final</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">After congratulating Swiatek during the trophy ceremony, Sabalenka told her rival: &quot;I hope we&#x27;re going to make it to the final in Roland Garros, and I&#x27;m going to get you there.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Then Sabalenka added, &quot;Just kidding. I&#x27;m just going to try to do better than today.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">During her speech, Swiatek replied, &quot;We&#x27;ll see about that Roland Garros final.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Swiatek became the first woman to complete the &quot;dirt double&quot; of winning Madrid and Rome back to back since Serena Williams in 2013.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The final was quite a contrast from when Swiatek had to save three match points before beating Sabalenka in a third-set tiebreaker in the Madrid Open final two weeks ago.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;Madrid, I didn&#x27;t feel like I could do everything. Here I kind of did,&quot; Swiatek said. &quot;I felt like I can really use this surface and this feeling to play even better.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Swiatek applied so much pressure early on that Sabalenka slammed her racket onto the clay in the fourth game and then had to grab a new stick from her bag.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Even on points when the hard-hitting Sabalenka seemed in control, Swiatek used her superb footspeed and accurate groundstrokes to turn the dynamics around and force Sabalenka into errors.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;Her movement is incredible. You always know that you have to build the point and you have to finish the point,&quot; Sabalenka said. &quot;That&#x27;s why sometimes I try to overhit balls, knowing she&#x27;s going to get to it. ... She&#x27;s really good in every facet of the game.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sabalenka stepped up her game at the start of the second set but Swiatek saved seven break points in her opening two service games.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Swiatek produced only 11 winners to Sabalenka&#x27;s 18 but also had just eight unforced errors to Sabalenka&#x27;s whopping 28.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Swiatek crushed a backhand return up the line on her second match point and when Sabalenka&#x27;s weak reply landed in the net, Swiatek dropped her white racket to the clay and then began jumping around in celebration after shaking hands with Sabalenka.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Adding to her titles from 2021 and 2022, Swiatek improved her career record in Rome to 20-2. At 22, the Polish player could approach the women&#x27;s record of five Italian Open titles held by Chris Evert.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Rafael Nadal, Swiatek&#x27;s idol, holds the overall record with 10 Rome trophies.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;If I win next time, there is going to be a tiramisu in here,&quot; Swiatek said as she took the lid off the trophy cup.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The men&#x27;s final on Sunday features 2017 champion Alexander Zverev against 24th-ranked Nicolas Jarry.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Swiatek also improved her career record against Sabalenka to 8-3. Swiatek has also won nine straight finals since she lost to Sabalenka in Madrid last year.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sabalenka was slowed by a back issue.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">&quot;Probably in some points there was moments where I could push myself a little bit more but I didn&#x27;t want to get injured before Roland Garros,&quot; she said. &quot;It&#x27;s kind of like affecting you a little bit just by being there in the back of your mind. But I wouldn&#x27;t say I lost the match today because of my back.&quot;</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="color:#000000;background-color:transparent;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Swiatek earned a winner&#x27;s check of 699,690 euros (more than $750,000).</span></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c3qpkxJ5FyY?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Iga Swiatek dominated in her latest meeting with No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, winning the Italian Open final 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday to earn her third trophy on Rome's red clay.</p>

Iga Swiatek dominated in her latest meeting with No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, winning the Italian Open final 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday to earn her third trophy on Rome's red clay.

Swiatek dominates Sabalenka to earn her 3rd Italian Open title and heads to French Open as the big favorite

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Swiatek dominates Sabalenka to earn her 3rd Italian Open title and heads to French Open as the big favorite

Associated Press,

Andrew Dampf

Published May 19, 2024 03:13 PM PHT

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