The winners at the Caja Magica, Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka, are both ranked No. 2 at the moment, but there’s a good case to be made that they’ve been the best players of 2023 so far.
Alcaraz beat lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the Spanish capital on Sunday to guarantee his return to the No. 1 spot by playing at least one match at the upcoming Italian Open in Rome.
The 20-year-old Spaniard converted on his first match point after a hard-fought battle against Struff to secure his fourth title of the year and 10th of his impressive young career. He had also successfully defended his title in Barcelona two weeks ago.
“For me it is so, so special,” Alcaraz said. “To lift the trophy here in Madrid. In my country. In front of my home crowd, my family, my friends. Everyone close to me. For me it is a special feeling that I will never forget.”
In another meeting of the top two players in the world, Aryna Sabalenka finally got the better of Iga Swiatek on clay.
No. 2 seed Sabalenka was the more aggressive player throughout the contest and deservedly upset the reigning French Open champion and clay-court specialist to prevail 6-3 3-6 6-3 in two hours and 25 minutes.
It is the 13th title of Sabalenka’s career and her second on the red dirt, which sees her join an elite group of players to win Madrid more than once alongside Petra Kvitova (3), Simona Halep (2) and Serena Williams (2).
Together, Sabalenka and Alcaraz represent the state of the art in the way the game is played and won today. They win free points with their serves, but they also use them to set up their next shots. They hit their forehands with lethal, electric power that no one on their respective tours can match.
Long-time friends Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev captured their first tour-level doubles title together Saturday when they defeated seventh seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 6-3, 3-6, 10-3 at the Mutua Madrid Open.
Khachanov and Rublev were competing in their third ATP Masters 1000 final, having advanced to the championship match in Miami in 2018 and Paris in 2019. With their victory, Rublev has now won four doubles trophies. It is Khachanov’s first tour-level doubles title.
Victoria Azarenka and Beatriz Haddad Maia captured the doubles title at the Mutua Madrid Open, defeating top seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-4 in Sunday’s final.
The title is Azarenka’s 10th doubles title and fifth at the WTA 1000 level. It is her biggest win on the doubles court since teaming with Ashleigh Barty to win Rome in 2019.
Madrid is Haddad Maia’s fifth career doubles title and the biggest title of her career. The Brazilian was previously a two-time runner-up at the WTA 1000 level, including at Indian Wells this spring with Laura Siegemund.
While Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka were busy compiling title runs at the Caja Magica, Andy Murray and Sloane Stephens capitalized at lower-level tournaments in France staged during the second week of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Other players taking home hardware this weekend included Sorana Cirstea (WTA 125 event in Reus, Spain) and Ugo Humbert (ATP Challenger Tour 175 event in Cagliari, Italy).