Swiatek wins second straight WTA Stuttgart title

Iga Swiatek of Poland retained her title with a straight-set victory over Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in a match between the world's top two players at the WTA Stuttgart Grand Prix here.

Top seed Swiatek defeated world No. 2 Sabalenka 6-3, 6-4 after one hour and 50 minutes, in a rematch of last year's final on the indoor clay, capturing her 13th career singles title, reports Xinhua.

"I wanted to win really badly, but I knew I couldn't focus on that and just had to keep doing my job as I did in previous matches," Swiatek said. "I'm pretty happy that I could maintain a good mentality and just focus on what I wanted to do tennis-wise."

Swiatek maintained her undefeated career record at the Stuttgart GP (8-0 in her two appearances) and now holds a 5-2 win-loss record against Sabalenka in their rivalry. It was also Swiatek's 20th win this year.

It was the first clay-court final between the world's top two-ranked players in a decade, with the last one occurring at the 2013 Roland Garros, where No. 1 Serena Williams defeated No. 2 Maria Sharapova for the title.

Reigning Australian Open champion Sabalenka left Stuttgart with 23 match-wins this year. Despite reaching the final in each of the past three years, Sabalenka was denied by Ashleigh Barty in 2021 before her two losses to Swiatek.

In the doubles final, No. 2 seeds and last year's champions Desirae Krawczyk of the United States and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands beat third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico 6-4, 6-1.

"In general, I think we play aggressively, we just like the (Stuttgart) court," Schuurs said. "Desirae is playing very well, and then I can do my job at the net."

Krawczyk and Schuurs triumphed at the Stuttgart GP last year for their first title as a pair, and they claimed their second title by dispatching Melichar-Martinez and Olmos in 64 minutes. It was Krawczyk's ninth doubles title and the 16th for Schuurs.