Weekend Winners: Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek find a gear too good for even their best opponents

WATCH: Iga Swiatek defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix for the second year in a row.

Defense was the watchword of the weekend in tennis. On Sunday, four players set out to defend their titles from a year ago; three of them—Iga Swiatek in Stuttgart, Carlos Alcaraz in Barcelona, Holger Rune in Munich—succeeded. Only Andrey Rublev fell just short at the finish line, 6-4 in the third set, to Dusan Lajovic in Banja Luka.

Did we think there would be this type of stability at the top the sport in 2023? We’re coming off a season when three former No. 1s, Ashleigh Barty, Serena Williams, and Roger Federer, retired. We’re in the middle of a season when Rafael Nadal has played just two matches, and Novak Djokovic hasn’t made a final since January. Normally, you might think chaos would ensue at a transitional moment like this.

Instead, we see the cream rising to the top, and staying there from one week to the next. Daniil Medvedev won four straight tournaments in February and March. Rublev and Rune made the Monte Carlo final last week, and did the same at different tournaments this week. Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina have each raced through 13-match win streaks.

On Sunday, this early season trend of steady excellence reached its peak in Stuttgart and Barcelona. Neither is a major or a Masters 1000, but their finals included four of the game’s best players. At the Porsche Grand Prix, Swiatek, the WTA’s No. 1, beat Sabalenka, the tour’s No. 2. At the Banc Sabadell, Alcaraz, who was the ATP’s No. 1 to start the year, beat No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Swiatek and Alcaraz took the best shots from their highly-ranked opponents, won by fairly routine 6-3, 6-4 scores, and reminded us that they have a gear, or a couple of gears, of their own.

The Stuttgart final may have been the most highly anticipated clash of the WTA season so far. It was the first time a No. 1 and No. 2 had played in a title match since Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep did it in the 2018 Australian Open final. Last year, Swiatek and Sabalenka faced off five times; Swiatek won four of them, but Sabalenka came out on top in the most recent of those meetings, at the WTA Finals last October.

Sunday’s final lived up to its billing as a state-of-the-art slugfest. In the early going, Sabalenka seemed to have an edge, as she used her much-improved backhand to control and finish rallies. She’s taller and rangier than Swiatek, and it looked like this might be the moment that she raced past her. Would Swiatek cave, the way she has on a few occasions recently when faced with a hot-hitting opponent? Not today. This time, she raised her level to match, and surpass, Sabalenka’s.

Everything No. 2 could do, No. 1 did a little better. Early on, Sabalenka’s backhand was the key shot; by the middle of the match, Swiatek’s two-hander had overtaken it. Sabalenka hit her serves with more pace, but Swiatek used her kick to open the court more effectively. And any time Swiatek got a good look at a forehand, she tomahawked it into a corner. Sabalenka may have more raw power, but Swiatek still has the best mix of speed, topspin, and sliding defense for clay. It felt like, for the first time this season, she had a statement to make, and she made it.

“I wanted to win really, really hard, but I knew that I can’t really focus on that, and just have to keep doing my job,” Swiatek said. “I’m pretty happy that I could kind of have a good mentality and just focus on what I want to do tennis-wise."

Alcaraz was equally focused in his win over Tsitsipas. If the Spaniard has a flaw, it’s his penchant for giving back leads when he seems to have matches all but wrapped up. But there was none of that in this final. Tsitsipas tried to throw different looks at him. He moved back, he moved up, he served and volleyed, he changed speeds and spins. In the end, all he could do was argue futilely with his father about what tactic might actually work. When he tried to match the Spaniard’s power, Tsitsipas often ended up shanking the ball wildly.

Through it all, Alcaraz stayed serenely, even casually, in control. He hit his forehand harder than Tsitispas; he used his kick serve to move him off the court; he feathered in drop-shot winners whenever the mood struck. It’s hardly fair when a player can force you to be ready for a 100 mph groundstroke at all times, and also have the ability to drop the ball a couple inches over the net. Alcaraz finished with 26 winners to just eight for Tsitsipas.

Alcaraz won his second straight title on a Barcelona court that’s named for his countryman and predecessor, Rafael Nadal. Like Rafa, Alcaraz seems to play some of his best, most effortless tennis there. He’s in front of his home fans in Barcelona, but he may not feel the same kind of pressure that will come during the Masters 1000 in Madrid next week.

“Me and my team were talking before the match about staying relaxed,” Alcaraz said. “To want to play the tough moments, staying relaxed is the most important part for me. To forget the mistakes, everything and be myself on court. Not to think about all the people watching, but just me, the court, the racquet and the final."

Afterward, Tsitsipas told Alcaraz that, despite being just 19, he already served as an “example” to the other top guys, and would “hopefully push us to do better.” The same could be said for the 21-year-old Swiatek. Together the Spaniard and the Pole have raised the bar for their generation, and may have inspired this current run of consistency and stability for their tour-mates.

As we saw on Sunday, though, as well as the rest of the tour is playing, they still have a ways to go to catch up to Alcaraz and Swiatek.