Editor’s note: As part of the 2024 WTA Fan Awards series, we’re inviting fans to vote on their favorite players, matches and moments from this season. All categories are open, so check WTATennis.com/awards to make make your picks. 

This season delivered unforgettable battles, clutch comebacks and matchups with the potential to become iconic rivalries. Now it’s your turn to weigh in: Which showdown deserves Match of the Year? Cast your vote and help crown the fan-favorite match that defined 2024.

Elena Rybakina vs. Iga Swiatek, Stuttgart semifinal

Iga Swiatek’s rivalry with Elena Rybakina has yet to get off the ground in the same way as her matchups with Aryna Sabalenka. They have played just five completed matches, four of which ended in straight sets. Their semifinal at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix was the first time both players threw their best tennis at each other for a full three sets, and their contrasting approaches to power made for a riveting watch. Ultimately, Rybakina’s serving prowess and flat strikes emerged a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victor, marking her first defeat of Swiatek on clay and ending the two-time defending champion’s 10-match winning streak in Stuttgart. They have not played since. The prospect of their rivalry picking up where they left off here is tantalizing. 

Aryna Sabalenka vs. Iga Swiatek, Madrid final

Speaking of Sabalenka-Swiatek, in their 10th meeting, they gave us their longest, tightest and best match yet in what looks to be an era-defining rivalry. The Caja Mágica was treated to an instant classic in the Mutua Madrid Open final as the top two players in the world locked horns for 3 hours and 11 minutes, the longest title match of the season. In the end, it came down to grit in a thrilling dénouement. Swiatek had trailed 3-1 in the third set, then faced two championship points serving down 6-5 and another in the ensuing tiebreak. Each time she looked down and out, she simply refused to miss — and in the end converted her second championship point for a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7) victory and the first Madrid title of her career.

Vote: Head to the 2024 WTA Fan Awards page to cast all your picks!

Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini vs. Coco Gauff/ Erin Routliffe, Rome Final

Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini’s title run at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia was simultaneously a hot of nostalgia and a foreshadowing of the future. The Italians’ nail-biting 6-3, 4-6, [10-8] final defeat of Coco Gauff and Erin Routliffe came down to the wire, and the roars from the home fans harked back a decade, when Errani and Roberta Vinci packed the stands for their runs to three consecutive finals in 2012-14 (winning the title in 2012). And it was the launchpad for Errani and Paolini to become one of the defining doubles teams of 2024 as they went on to the Roland Garros final and Olympic Games gold medal.

Jessica Pegula vs. Anna Kalinskaya, Berlin final

The ecotrans Ladies Open in Berlin was just Jessica Pegula’s second tournament of her comeback from a rib injury that had sidelined her for two months. But the American’s grit shone through as she staved off five championship points to defeat Anna Kalinskaya 6-7(0), 6-4, 7-6(3) in the final. It was a contest in which momentum swung back and forth throughout. Pegula led 5-3 in the first set, but Kalinskaya snatched it with a run of eight straight points. Pegula hit back to take the second set, but Kalinskaya leaped out to 4-1 in the third. Pegula leveled at 4-4 but could not take four break points to take a 5-4 lead and serve for the match. Instead, it was her turn to cling on as she saved four championship points down 5-4 and another one down 6-5. It came down to a touch of magic — a pinpoint lob that paved the way to victory in the tiebreak after 2 hours and 38 minutes.

Sabalenka vs. Zheng Qinwen, Wuhan final 

Ahead of the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open final, Chinese media took to calling Sabalenka the “Tiger Mountain,” the peak that their heroine, Zheng Qinwen, couldn’t seem to scale. Three prior meetings had barely been competitive. Sabalenka had overpowered Zheng without coming close to losing a set. As Sabalenka headed out to a set-and-a-break lead in Wuhan, the same match seemed to be playing out again. Then, Zheng flipped the narrative. A valiant second-set comeback, full of breathtaking, high-octane baseline exchanges, demonstrated exactly how she could go toe-to-toe with Sabalenka. She couldn’t pull off the same trick in the decider, and Sabalenka emerged a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 winner, but this was the first time the matchup had looked like a potential real rivalry.