• Russian defeats Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
• Rublev: ‘I would say this is the most proud title of my career’

Andrey Rublev overcame an opening set wobble to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the final of the Madrid Open on Sunday to win his second Masters 1000 title.

Auger-Aliassime was chasing his first Masters title and looked well set for victory before a resurgent Rublev, who had been struggling with a fever during the tournament, recovered to prevail in a little under three hours.

The WTA finals host revealed its commitment to women’s rights by jailing a female activist

If a record of sexual apartheid is not the ideal look for a nation that must still, occasionally, placate progressives, news of an extreme example – the lengthy imprisonment of Manahel al-Otaibi , a 29-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist – has at least arrived too late to tarnish Saudi Arabia’s latest sporting triumph: buying up the Women’s Tennis Association finals.

In fact, given that country’s hectic promotional schedule, there could hardly have been a more convenient time for human rights organisations to report, as they did last week, that al-Otaibi whose circumstances were for months unknown, is serving 11 years in prison for the “terrorist” offences of wearing “indecent clothes” (ie, not an abaya) and supporting women’s rights. Her sister, Fouz al-Otaibi, fled the country in 2022 to avoid similar persecution. Fouz tweeted last week : “Why have my rights become terrorism, and why is the world silent?”

• World no 1 wins epic 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7) in three hours and 11 minutes
• Swiatek saves three match points to earn first title in Madrid

Iga Swiatek may still be in the early years of her career, still in the process of learning her craft, gaining new tools while yet to reach her peak, but at the same time she continues to make her mark in tennis’s history books at a startling pace.

At 22 years old, Swiatek has now won every single significant clay court event on the WTA tour, an achievement she earned on Saturday evening by outlasting Aryna Sabalenka in an incredible battle of the highest quality between the two best players in the world. After three hours and 11 minutes in Madrid, Swiatek saved three match points and emerged victorious in a match that will go down in history for its greatness, defeating Sabalenka 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7).

• Swiatek eases past Keys, Sabalenka rallies to beat Rybakina
• Jiri Lehecka into men’s semis after Daniil Medvedev retires

Iga Swiatek made light work of Madison Keys on Thursday to book a rematch with Aryna Sabalenka in the Madrid Open final.

Top seed Swiatek beat her American opponent 6-1, 6-3 in just 70 minutes in their semi-final on Thursday. She will now have a chance at revenge for last year’s defeat against Sabalenka, who rallied from a set and break down to edge fourth seed Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5).

The former player, once a world No 1, also inspired a defining Adidas shoe and is the subject of a revealing new documentary

For sports fans of a certain age, the seasonal queues that form around shoe stores in anticipation of the latest Jordan sneakers are a painful reminder of the many young people who only know of the hoops legend as an athletic brand. But well before Nike reduced Michael to a Jumpman silhouette, Adidas was hawking Stan Smiths – the leather, low-top kicks that became such a fashion statement among rockers and rappers that perhaps more young people have no idea the mustachioed face on the tongue belongs to one of the most consequential players in tennis history. “A lot of sneaker enthusiasts want to understand the heritage and story behind it,” says the director Danny Lee. His latest film answers the essential question: Who Is Stan Smith?

Produced under LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s Uninterrupted imprimatur, Who Is Stan Smith? revisits the life and times of the former world No 1, from his working-class beginnings to his improbable bond with Arthur Ashe to his even more improbable emergence as a style icon – a SoCal James Bond, Sean Connery in country club kit. That’s despite, as one of his children helpfully points out in the doc, Smith rocking his trademark top lip strip for the better part of the last 50 years. That ’stache wasn’t just all the rage during Smith’s prime (in the late-60s and early-70s, mostly), it was part of a sandy-haired, cerulean-eyed 6ft 4in all-American package that the super agent Donald Dell turned into one of the most commercial billboards in sport. And yet: the glamor of the epoch has nothing on these times. “Now they’ve got teams, they’ve got people doing the jet set thing,” says the 77-year-old Smith, recalling the days on tour when it was just him and his wife, Margie. “It’s still tough as a professional athlete, but back then she and I were the team more or less.”

• Five-times winner is honoured by event after 7-5, 6-4 defeat
• World No 1 Iga Swiatek to face Madison Keys in semi-finals

Rafael Nadal’s rousing, dramatic last stand on home soil came to an end just after midnight in the early hours of Wednesday morning as he was outhit and outplayed by Jiri Lehecka, a talented young Czech, who seized one of the biggest moments of his career so far by ­toppling the Spaniard 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open.

The defeat will likely mark Nadal’s final time competing at the tournament he has won a record five times, with the 37-year-old expecting 2024 to be the final year of his career.

• Spaniard digs in to defeat Pedro Cachín 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3
• Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina through to quarter-finals

As Rafael Nadal continues to build the physical robustness, intensity and form required to be competitive over five sets against the best players in the world at the French Open, he took another step forward in his comeback by holding firm in a nervy, turbulent contest to reach the fourth round of the Madrid Open with a 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win over Pedro Cachín of Argentina.

Having started the tournament with ample uncertainty after mostly being off the tour for the past 18 months due to various injuries, Nadal continues to make clear progress. Two days after seeing off Alex de Minaur , the 10th seed, in the second round, Nadal maintained his intensity across a three-hour, four-minute battle with Cachín, the world No 91, and he elevated his level in the decisive moment of the third set.

Luca Guadagnino’s sizzling, sharply scripted drama, co-starring Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, is such fun it’s almost indecent

Nobody harnesses horniness quite like Luca Guadagnino . With his lavish, luxurious portrait of forbidden lust, the Tilda Swinton -starring I Am Love , Guadagnino embraced one of cinema’s most cliched symbolic sensual devices, filling the frame with come-hither shots of delectable food. But somehow, in his hands, this hackneyed metaphor feels fresh, and the film is a skin-tingling exploration of erotic tension. Then there’s Call Me By Your Name , with its scenes of peach-grappling and languid yearning, in which even the spaces between the characters are charged with longing. And Bones and All , which virtually rebrands cannibalism as a legitimate kink. But even by Guadagnino’s highly charged standards, Challengers is an absurdly sexy movie. With its power plays and exquisite cruelty, the shimmering beauty of its three leads and their tantalising interlocking desires, and the slow-motion shots of pooling sweat dripping on to the lens, the film borders on trashy at times, but it’s so much fun that it’s practically indecent.

At the very centre of the story, and providing much of the muscular energy that drives it, is a never better Zendaya. Deploying every last drop of her silky star quality, she plays Tashi, a former tennis prodigy. When we meet her, Tashi is now coaching her husband, Art (Mike Faist, channelling a thorny combination of brash entitlement and neediness), a multi-grand-slam-winning tennis champion who has hit a confidence-sapping losing streak. And it’s more than his career that hangs in the balance. The stress is compounded because Art is well aware that for his wife, losers are a massive turn-off. “I love you,” he says plaintively. “I know,” she purrs, lazily uninterested. Advantage Tashi.

• Nadal beat Alex de Minaur 7-6 (6), 6-3 at Madrid Open
• First time since November 2022 Nadal has beaten a top-30 player

In the feverish buildup to his final appearance at the Madrid Open, Rafael Nadal made himself abundantly clear. It was not too long ago that he was unsure if he would ever return to the court at all and so, with his lingering physical limitations, he came to Madrid with the intention of saying goodbye to his home crowd, not to win. But this is a 22-time grand slam champion whose career has been defined by his ability to win tennis matches on clay courts regardless of age, physical shape or environment. Of course he was not going to leave without a desperate fight.

Barely a week after he was dismantled by the very same opponent, Nadal returned to the fourth round here with an excellent performance, defeating Alex de Minaur, the 10th seed, 7-6 (6), 6-3 after more than two hours.