Iga Swiatek on Thursday had the answers against teenage sensation Alexandra Eala.
After a quarter-final loss to the rising star from the Philippines last month in Miami, Swiatek rallied to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory in the second round of the Madrid Open.
The second-ranked Swiatek, who is the defending Madrid champion, is trying to reach her first final of the season.
Photo: AP
“On clay I feel like I have a little bit more advantage sometimes in the situations, where Alexandra could take more advantage on faster hard courts,” the four-time French Open champion said. “I understand that there’s hype about these young players, but you got to be focused on yourself.”
The 19-year-old Eala, a product of Rafael Nadal’s academy, defeated Swiatek in straight sets during her breakthrough run in Miami.
Eala broke Swiatek’s serve early and cruised to victory in the first set at the Caja Magica center court, but the former No. 1 regained her control for the rest of the match, taking advantage of a letdown by her young opponent.
Photo: AP
“From the beginning I didn’t play smoothly, but I managed to solve some problems,” said the 23-year-old Swiatek, who was a set and a break down before rallying to victory.
Swiatek has made three semi-final appearances this year, including at the Australian Open and the Indian Wells Open. She lost her second match in Stuttgart, Germany, last week, falling against Jelena Ostapenko in three sets.
Before beating Swiatek in Miami, the left-handed Eala had also defeated two other Grand Slam winners — Ostapenko and Madison Keys. Her run ended in the semi-finals after a loss to Jessica Pegula.
The last-four appearance in Miami allowed Eala to become the first Filipina to be ranked inside the top 100. She is currently the No. 72.
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff got off to a poor start, but came back to defeat Dayana Yastremska 0-6, 6-2, 7-5 in their second-round match.
It was only the second time Gauff won after losing the first set 6-0 in WTA-level events. She had done it against Elise Mertens four years ago.
The fourth-ranked Gauff needs two more victories to reach the quarter-finals for her best appearance in five outings in Madrid. She next faces fellow American Ann Li, who defeated Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Elsewhere, world No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, who is to turn 18 on Tuesday, reached the third round by defeating Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 6-4, while Brazil’s Bia Haddad Maia rallied to beat Bernard Pera 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
In the women’s doubles, Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova and American partner Peyton Stearns beat Taiwanese Wu Fang-hsien and Russian partner Anna Blinkova 6-7 (8/6), 6-2, 10-4.
In the men’s side, former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori defeated Alexsandar Vukic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 for his 450th tour-level win. The 64th-ranked Japanese was a 2014 finalist in Madrid.
“I had no idea,” the 35-year-old Nishikori said about his milestone. “I just try to play one match at a time. It’s a lot, yes... I have played for 18 years now, hopefully I can reach 500 [wins].”
He plays 29th-seeded Denis Shapovalov in the second round.
Joao Fonseca, the 18-year-old Brazilian who has become a sensation on tour this year, defeated Elmer Moller 6-2, 6-3 on center court to set up a second-round meeting against 11th-seeded Tommy Paul.
“I know it’s going to be a difficult match,” Fonseca said. “I already practiced with him once. Yeah, excited for the match.”
Fonseca would go for his third top-20 victory. He defeated No. 9 Andrey Rublev at the Australian Open and No. 20 Ugo Humbert in Miami.
Additional reporting by staff writer
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
Ollie Watkins’ second-half header on Thursday gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille OSC in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie. Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendia headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Ozer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net. Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ’keeper. Nottingham Forest were stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland, with substitute Cho
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s consecutive RBI singles proved to be the difference in the US’ 5-3 win over Canada in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal on Friday night in Houston. The US faces the Dominican Republic, which crushed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in its quarter-final, in a semifinal Sunday in Miami for a spot in Tuesday’s championship. The Dominican team has won all five games in this WBC by a combined margin of 51-10. It appeared the US squad was headed toward a cozy victory when it built a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning. A first-inning RBI groundout
RSS