La Caja Mágica doesn’t do politics, but they do!

Marta Kostyuk is the most committed player on tour when it comes to the Ukrainian issue. She has refused handshakes with Russians since the 2022 invasion, she carries her flag with an intensity that goes beyond sport, and last night she didn't hesitate for a second before turning her back on Potapova. Tomorrow on Manolo Santana she’ll play against Mirra Andreeva, Russian, nineteen years old as of two days ago, who herself never asked to be born where she was born. This match won’t just be a tennis final. Kostyuk will be playing for an entire country, with an emotional charge that can be an absolute strength or a burden in tough moments. Andreeva sometimes cracks, cries, yells at her box that she’s not a champion, and then saves set points with genius lobs. The mental duel between the Ukrainian warrior playing for her people and the unstable Russian kid but infinitely gifted in big moments is maybe the real final within the final. La Caja Mágica takes no sides. The score does.

Andreeva and Kostyuk are the two players with the most wins on clay in 2026, and they meet on Manolo Santana to settle it between them. Andreeva at 12–1, Kostyuk at 11–0, both unbeaten or almost on the surface this season. The most deserved final of the tournament in a draw that saw Sabalenka, Rybakina, Świątek and Gauff fall. Andreeva comes into the final with her track record as armor: 6–0 in all the finals of her career, 2–0 in WTA 1000s, and 83.3% tiebreaks won on clay in 2026. The one who just saved three set points in a tiebreak against Baptiste at only nineteen years old knows exactly how to behave on the biggest stages. Kostyuk, for her part, has dominated this tournament in a way no one expected. Pegula 6–1 6–4, McNally 6–2 6–3, Noskova 7–6 6–0, before handling Potapova in three sets in the semis. Third final of the season, first WTA 1000 of her career.

Kostyuk’s return game on clay in 2026 is in a class of its own: 62.8% of Return Games Won, 69.8% on opponents’ second serve, 100% conversion on deciding return points. She’s going to target Andreeva’s second serve, whose 57.1% Break Points Saved on clay is the main weak spot in her profile. The only downside on Kostyuk’s side: her tiebreaks at 50% on clay this season compared to Andreeva’s 83.3%. If a set goes all the way, the Russian takes it in the vast majority of cases. Both players have shown this week that they can wobble: Andreeva nearly lost the second set against Baptiste, trailing 0–4 in the tiebreak, while Kostyuk dropped the second set 1–6 against Potapova before pulling herself together.