Eighteen of the Top 20 players arrived at the Mutua Madrid Open, hoping to make an impression. There were 96 in all, a crazy quilt of top contenders, wild cards, qualifiers and top contenders.

And yet, in the end, it’s No.1 Iga Swiatek versus No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final (not before 6:30 p.m. local time).

Maybe we should have seen it coming; this is a rematch of last year’s final, won by Sabalenka in three sets. The only other time that happened on either the men’s or women’s side in Madrid? That would be 2009-10, when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal each came out with a victory.

In the semifinals, Swiatek defeated No.18 Madison Keys in straight sets, and Sabalenka came back from 6-1, 4-2 deficit against Elena Rybakina to win in a third-set tiebreak.

Swiatek will be motivated -- not just to pad her lead in the Hologic WTA Tour rankings, but to avenge last year’s loss here to Sabalenka. But … knowing what to do isn’t the same as actually doing it against a Top 5 player.

So we meet again: Top points from Swiatek vs. Sabalenka through the years

“I wouldn’t say we’re trying to figure out, because we kind of know what I should play, but sometimes it wasn’t easy to implement it,” Swiatek told reporters on Thursday. “I still feel like I haven’t played this match where I tactically played the best from the beginning till the end.”

Sabalenka isn’t committed to using the same tactics that worked a year ago.

“I think that we are all improving, and we are all changing throughout the year, so I’m going to watch her matches and see if I have to adjust my strategy,” she said. “But the main strategy for me is just to focus on myself and to stay aggressive and just trust my shots.”

How will this one play out? Courtney Nguyen and Greg Garber make the case for the two finalists:

Advantage, Swiatek

Iga Swiatek is confident going into her third WTA 1000 final of the season. Outside of the one set she flubbed against Beatriz Haddad Maia, she's been commanding. Her last four sets in the quarterfinals and semifinals? 6-0, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

Those last two sets came against big-hitting Madison Keys, who beat her two years ago in straight sets. What was the American's assessment of Swiatek's form right now?

"I think she doesn't seem like she's ever really going for that much, but I was also really impressed today with her depth and her shot placement," Keys said.

"You win a point or two, and you have to work so hard to do that or you have to play such a great point to win the point. It's hard to consistently do that when every ball that's coming back at you, it's coming quick, it's coming deep, it's coming with good margin.

"It seems like she's not really taking a ton of risk, and she's basically baiting her opponents into taking more and more risk."

Few players know that as well as Sabalenka. Saturday will be their 10th career meeting. Only Coco Gauff has played Swiatek as many times. Swiatek owns a 6-3 record over Sabalenka and won their last meeting, a straight-sets win in Cancun en route to her reclamation of the No.1 ranking.

Yes, Sabalenka knows how to beat Swiatek in Madrid. She did it last year in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in the final.

Road to the Final: How Swiatek paved her path in Madrid

"I would say that that was the best match I ever played, especially on clay court," Sabalenka said. "I think the level was just super high. It was clean, it was intense, powerful game. Yeah, I think that was the best final I ever played."

That's what it took. The best match she's ever had on clay and her best performance in any of the 26 finals she's ever played.

From Swiatek's point of view, she has yet to play her best against Sabalenka.

"So it's not like we need to change a lot” Swiatek said, “but we need to stick to the plan and I need to implement it a little bit better."

Which she, more than anyone, can do. -- Courtney Nguyen 

Advantage, Sabalenka

Granted, Courtney, Iga is a wizard on clay. She’ll be favored to win her fourth title at Roland Garros in five years and is the youngest player since Martina Hingis (Hamburg 2000) to make 10 WTA event finals on clay courts. How good is she? Swiatek makes the final more than half the time when the tournament is played on clay.

She’s also beaten Sabalenka three times in four matches on the dirt -- in Stuttgart (twice) and Rome. But there is one enormous asterisk lurking over this final.

That would be Caja Magica’s elevated position of 2,133 feet above sea level. It might not seem like a lot, but that altitude plays nicely into Sabalenka’s deft hands. Throw out that 6-3 head-to-head for Swiatek. The one time Sabalenka’s beaten Swiatek on clay was here a year ago. 

It would be hard to understate Sabalenka’s comfort level in Madrid. Her rousing comeback against Rybakina was her 11th consecutive match-win in central Spain -- something only Serena Williams and Simona Halep had previously accomplished. Sabalenka, looking for her third Madrid title in four years, has won 17 of her 20 matches.

Admittedly, Sabalenka has been a bit out of sorts here. Four of her five matches have gone the distance -- and yet she prevailed over Magda Linette, Robin Montgomery, Danielle Collins and Rybakina. She’s dropped 60 games, something only four other players have done on the way to the final since the WTA 1000 format was introduced in 2009.

Her on-court time clocks in at a logy, leg-killing 10 hours, 40 minutes, but I’m not concerned. First, she’s got a full day off Friday, which is a sufficient time to recover. Second, she’s showing the kind of tenacity that made her a two-time champion at the Australian Open and the No.2 player in the world.

She was embarrassed in the first set against Rybakina, then fell behind 4-2 before digging in. Sabalenka won five of the next six games and took the tiebreak with some sizzling serving. Rybakina had won 16 consecutive matches on clay and 12 straight in three sets -- and Sabalenka, undaunted, ended both of those streaks.

Watch for Sabalenka to draw on those reserves and triumph again on Saturday. -- Greg Garber