Another big-time tournament and another big win by Sabalenka. This is turning into quite the little rivalry. Out of the last four matches, we’ve seen Iga and Aryna split the difference. This one has to hurt Iga a little more than any other loss to Sabalenka though. After all, this is Iga’s bread and butter – the clay.

Iga should be tearing through the clay court season as she usually does, and she did not. This result makes the case for Sabalenka to be the favorite at Roland Garros no matter the result in Rome next week. Sabalenka has already proven she can play big-time clay court tennis against the best clay court player around. Can Sabalenka follow this performance up at the French Open? Only time will tell. In the meantime, let’s look at some interesting happenings at Madrid.

Aside from Sabalenka and Swiatek, there doesn’t seem to be another woman that can claim good form on clay. Sabalenka and Swiatek tore through the draw with relative ease. Where are the top women?

Rybakina is supposed to be the third participant in the Swiatek and Sabalenka rivalry. She promptly lost in the round of 64 to Anna Kalinskaya. It would be nice to see her with the same form she’s shown on a hard court.

Genie Bouchard continued her comeback and posted a very respectable win against former top-25 player Dayana Yamstremska. In all, she won two qualifiers and one main draw match. That’s a promising start to a comeback from injury that’s been a long time coming.

Although reaching only the quarters at Madrid, Pegula continues to play like the number 3 player in the world. She goes deep at every tournament she enters. Not only does she go deep in singles, but also has been posting some very nice results in doubles, making the finals in Madrid with Coco Gauff.

We now head to the Italian Open before landing at the French Open. Look for more Sabalenka vs Swiatek rivalry finals. These two players are now the number one and number two players in the country. That means they will get to meet in the finals of any tournament should they push through.

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