Iga Swiatek scooped her 13th career title with a statement victory against Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday's Stuttgart Open final.
The world number one has seen her dominance take a dip this season, with Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina emerging as serious candidates to displace her at the top of the women's game.
However, Swiatek is the queen on clay and illustrated her prowess with a 6-3 6-4 win at the tournament that rewards its champion not only with a cheque for $120,150 and trophy, but also a Porsche.
This success made Swiatek the first player to defend the Stuttgart title since Angelique Kerber's back-to-back 2015 and 2016 triumphs, and it came in her first tournament back after a rib injury.
The 21-year-old Polish player entered the title match having said she and Ons Jabeur are the tour's best players on clay, and that put her there to be shot at by Australian Open winner Sabalenka, who has climbed to second place in the rankings.
This was the first time a tour-level final has featured the top two women in the world rankings since the 2018 Australian Open final, when Simona Halep beat Caroline Wozniacki.
It was also a repeat of last year's Stuttgart final that Swiatek won comprehensively, dropping only four games, amid a 37-match winning run that would bring her a second French Open title.
The traffic was not quite so one-way this time, but Swiatek was terrific and did not drop serve once.
For Sabalenka, the outcome meant a third consecutive defeat in Stuttgart title matches, having also lost in the 2021 showpiece to Ash Barty.
After Swiatek surged through the opener, she forced a break point at the start of the second set and a Sabalenka double fault handed over the advantage.
Unforced errors were costing the Belarusian, who could not capitalise on a break point in the fourth game of the second set, going on to fling a desperate forehand wide to hand over a 3-1 lead.
Swiatek took evasive action to avoid a fierce Sabalenka smash in the next game, after initially charging towards the net, but she remained firmly in charge.
The title was secured with a ruthless love game on serve, an outmanoeuvred Sabalenka left to watch her opponent drill away a backhand into an empty court.
Reflecting on her injury lay-off, Swiatek said: "It's been such an intense time in the last couple of weeks and tough decisions sometimes, but I'm so happy we're making the right decisions."
Sabalenka, who during the week made no secret of her eagerness to win the Porsche, said: "I'll keep coming back until I get the car."
Gauff breezes past Tomova in Wuhan opener
Coco Gauff cruised through her first-ever match at the Wuhan Open with a comfortable straight-sets win over Viktoriya Tomova.
Fresh from winning the China Open on Sunday, Gauff returned to action with a 6-1 6-2 victory in 76 minutes.
The American was given an early scare as her serve was broken in the first game, but she recovered brilliantly, storming through the next six in a row to take the first set.
She picked up where she left off in the second, winning 10 games on the bounce. Despite Tomova showing some late fight after Gauff was 4-0 up, the world number three had already done enough.
Gauff won 15 of 32 first return points (47%), and dominated on her own serve after the early blip, hitting five aces, and winning 83% of her first serve points (24/29).
She will face Magda Linette or Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16.
Data Debrief: Gauff defies age once again
Only Caroline Wozniacki in 2010 (27) has won more WTA-1000 matches in a year than Gauff in 2024 (22) before turning 21, since the format was introduced in 2009. She has equalled Iga Swiatek's record from 2022 (also 22 wins).
In fact, only Swiatek (30) and Aryna Sabalenka (24) have won more WTA-1000 matches than her in 2024, as she extended her winning streak to seven matches.
Among players to have played 10 or more matches in China in the 21st century, Gauff has the highest winning percentage in events played in the country (91.7%, 11-1).
Alcaraz battles past Monfils to keep winning streak alive
Carlos Alcaraz battled past Gael Monfils, becoming the first Spaniard to reach the Shanghai Masters quarter-final since 2017 as he kept his winning streak alive.
Having lost to the Frenchman in Cincinnati earlier this year, Alcaraz won 6-4 7-5 on Wednesday, which was his 12th victory on the bounce.
Monfils was bidding to become the second-oldest ATP Masters 1000 quarter-finalist in history at 38 years old and matched Alcaraz through the early stages, almost forcing a break.
But he could not hold onto a lead in the ninth game of the first set, and the 21-year-old took advantage.
Alcaraz did not have it all his own way in the second set despite an assured performance, which saw him serve three games to love overall.
Monfils could only defend two of three break points in the penultimate game as Alcaraz pressed home his advantage. He will meet Tomas Machac on Thursday.
"The main thing I tried in this match was to stay calm, to control my emotions and wait for my chances," said Alcaraz.
"That helped me a lot to show my best tennis during the match. I am feeling the ball really well, much more than I was during the American swing. So, I am happy to be able to do it and keep going."
Data Debrief: No stopping Alcaraz
Alcaraz has improved his record to 51-9 for the season with this win over Monfils and is into his 14th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.
Since the format's inception in 1990, Alcaraz (76.5%, 62-19) only trails three players for win percentage at ATP Masters 1000 events: Novak Djokovic (82.02%), Rafael Nadal (82.00%) and Roger Federer (77.9%).
Sabalenka records 50th win of year to progress in Wuhan
Aryna Sabalenka maintained her perfect record at the Wuhan Open and clinched her 50th tour-level win of the year as she beat Katerina Siniakova in straight sets on Wednesday.
The Belarusian returned to winning ways after her shock exit at the China Open, with the score 6-4 6-4 after 94 minutes to reach the third round.
Sabalenka weathered an early storm as Siniakova pushed her at the start before the pair traded breaks just when it looked like she had gained an edge.
However, the world number two broke her serve again in the final game to take the set, and it was a similar story in the second.
The Czech valiantly defended her serve as the pair traded blows, but Sabalenka showed her edge by winning the final two games to set up a meeting with Yulia Putintseva in the next round.
"I missed Wuhan a lot," Sabalenka said. "I just have really good memories of winning, two times, the title here. Just Wuhan brings me a lot of great memories, good vibes.
"Siniakova, who is fighting for every point, it's really good that I was able to finish this match in two sets."
Data Debrief: Posting big numbers
The Wuhan Open has been out of the calendar for the last five years, but Sabalenka has settled back in quickly.
She has won all 13 of her matches played at the tournament (winning the title in both 2018 and 2019) and is the first player to win their first 13 matches in a single city hosting a WTA event since Maria Sharapova in Stuttgart (13-0 between 2012 and 2014).
The victory over Siniakova is her 50th of the WTA Tour in 2024, a number she will be pleased to reach after having her 15-match winning streak snapped in Beijing last week.
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