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The World No. 1 Iga Swiatek booked a berth in the first Madrid Open final of her career with a stunning 6-1, 6-1 victory over No.12 seed Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinal clash.
It just took one hour and 19 minutes for Swiatek to prevail at the first WTA 1000 clay-court event of the season. Swiatek won the opening seven points of the game to take a 5-1 lead. He later saved a break point in the ensuing game with a rally backhand winner and finished the set. Top-seeded In the second set, Swiatek again established a dominating 4-1 lead, but Kudermetova fought off four break points. In the nightcap, Swiatek eliminated each of those opportunities as she systematically advanced to win without once dropping serve. Swiatek will meet World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Sabalenka won her semifinal clash against No.9 seed Maria Sakkari. Before this event, Swiatek and Sabalenka faced each other in the Stuttgart Open final, where the World No. 1 defended her title against her Russian opponent with a 6-3, 6-4 in a hard-hitting victory. This will be the third time in the last 40 years that the World No. and 2 will face each other two times on clay during a single season. It is also the first time that World rank number one and two will play against each other in WTA 1000 final since top-ranked Serena Williams beat second-ranked Li Na for the 2014 Miami Open title. Earlier in the other semifinal, Aryna Sabalenka overpowered No.9 seed Maria Sakkari, 6-4, 6-1 in Thursday's semifinals to advance to the championship match at the Madrid Open for the second time in the past three years. Sabalenka extended her head-to-head advantage against Sakkari to 6-3 in 1 hour and 25 minutes, beating the Greek in straight sets for the fifth time. (ANI)
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