Madrid Open - 03/05

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Ace Cream's daily newsletter during Masters 1000 and Grand Slams, every morning at 8:30.

Today is Sunday, May 3, in Madrid it's 08:30 and it's 15 degrees. Ok, let's start.

Today at breakfast

• 🇺🇦 Kostyuk beats Andreeva 6-3 7-5 and claims her first 1000 title
• 🤝 The women's final ended without a handshake, and with a message
• 🇫🇮🇬🇧 Heliovaara and Patten come back from 0-4 in the match tiebreak and win the doubles
• 🇮🇹 Sinner-Zverev at 17:00: the final for the fifth consecutive 1000

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇺🇦 Kostyuk Steamrolls Andreeva And Lifts Her First 1000

Marta Kostyuk beat Mirra Andreeva 6-3 7-5 in one hour and twenty-one minutes on Manolo Santana, winning her first career WTA 1000 title after arriving in Madrid with a 2-7 record in previous editions. It is the third overall trophy for the Ukrainian, the first above the 250 level, and on Monday it will take her to world No. 15, a new career-high, up from No. 23. Her 2026 season now reads 17 wins and 4 losses, and on clay she is 12-0.

What stands out, looking back at the key points, is the way Kostyuk handled the two heavy moments in the second set: the ace to wipe out the second of two set points at 4-5 on serve, and then the break in the next game arriving on a Russian double fault. More than the composure at the finish line, though, what remains is the sense of a player who for the past year has been playing almost always at the same level, and who has now found the tournament where that consistency turned into something far bigger than just a good week.

🤝 A Final Without A Handshake, And A Political Statement

At the end of the match Kostyuk did not shake Andreeva's hand and did not pose for the customary photo at the net, walking straight to the chair umpire. It is the same choice she made two days ago with Potapova in the semifinal, in line with the position the Ukrainian has held since the start of the Russian invasion: no handshakes with players from Russia and Belarus, except for explicit cases like Daria Kasatkina, who has changed passport and publicly taken a stand against the war. Andreeva, born in Russia in 2007, was visibly in tears and respected the gesture.

The point, listening to Kostyuk's own words, is that this final comes at a moment when certain boundaries are starting to make themselves felt inside sport again, after a period in which they seemed to have faded into the background. It is not the first time it happens on the women's tour, and it probably will not be the last, but seeing it happen on the Sunday of the most important trophy of Kostyuk's career gives the gesture a different weight. The trophy is hers on sporting merit; the rest is a matter that concerns geopolitics more than tennis.

🇫🇮🇬🇧 Heliovaara And Patten Climb Onto The Madrid Throne From 0-4 In The Tiebreak

Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten won the men's doubles by beating Andreozzi and Guinard 6-3 3-6 10-7, after being down 0-4 and then 5-7 in the deciding match tiebreak. It is the first Madrid title for the Finnish-British pair and their fifth doubles final of the 2026 season, in a week that knocked out many of the top seeds and opened up a draw with unexpected paths.

What stays with you, beyond the comeback from 0-4 in the tiebreak, is the familiarity with which Heliovaara and Patten now handle this kind of stretched-to-the-limit match, where the margin for error is practically zero and the score barely tells you anything about the nerves on court. At this level of the tour, winning five points in a row from 5-7 in the super tiebreak of a 1000 final is no formality, and the fact that this pair has by now turned it into a routine is one of the most interesting underlying threads of the doubles season so far.

WHAT HAPPENS TODAY:

• Sinner vs Zverev (ATP, final) - On Manolo Santana at 17:00 Italian time. Jannik tries to become the first player in history to win five consecutive Masters 1000 and arrives on an open run of 22 straight wins since late February, after his loss in Doha, on top of eight wins in a row against the German. Zverev, twice champion here in 2018 and 2021, is chasing a third Madrid title that would put him alongside Federer and Djokovic, behind only Nadal, and comes off a solid week in which his serve seems to be back at its best level.

Further reading

• Kostyuk breaks through for first WTA 1000 title in Madrid
• Madrid Open 2026: Marta Kostyuk downs Mirra Andreeva to capture the biggest title of her career
• Harri Heliovaara & Henry Patten finish with a flourish, capture first Madrid title
• Sinner-Zverev, Madrid final: time, where to watch and why it's the most important match of the year
• Sinner in Madrid for History: against Zverev, chasing the record of 5 consecutive Masters 1000
• Sinner-Zverev, Madrid final: time and keys to the match

Have a great breakfast and a great day.

See you tomorrow at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast