Aryna Sabalenka began her quest for a third Madrid Open title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Anna Blinkova in second-round action at the Caja Magica on Friday.
The world number one improved her record at the tournament to 18-4, having lifted the trophy in 2021 and 2023, alongside her runner-up showing to Iga Swiatek last year.
After racing to a double-break 5-0 advantage against Blinkova in the opening set, Sabalenka lost one of her breaks before taking the lead on her third set point on the 48-minute mark.
Photo: AFP
The second set was a straightforward affair, with an early break of serve enough for Sabalenka to punch her ticket to the third round, where she awaits either her former doubles partner Elise Mertens or Colombia’s Camila Osorio.
Sabalenka’s three Grand Slam titles have all come on hard courts, but the Belarusian power-hitter has shown she can contend on clay, with two trophies clinched from nine finals reached on the surface.
The 26-year-old said the French Open has proven to be a “challenge” for her and she feels she has unfinished business there after losing in the 2023 semi-finals to Karolina Muchova and last year’s quarter-finals to Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva.
“Every time I go there, it’s like a challenge for me, even though I love playing on clay and I feel really good,” said Sabalenka of Roland Garros. “But I like to accept tough challenges. So I really hope that one year I’ll be able to get that beautiful trophy in my collection.”
Earlier in the day, world number nine Paula Badosa delivered another blow to the tournament, as she was forced to withdraw from her home event due to a lower back injury.
Badosa joins her fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who pulled out of the Madrid Open on Thursday citing a left hamstring issue and a right adductor injury.
Meanwhile, Tunisian Ons Jabeur crashed out in her opener to Moyuka Uchijima 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 while Greece’s Maria Sakkari took a positive step towards recapturing her form by dismissing 29th-seeded Magda Linette 7-6(5), 6-3.
Elsewhere, in the women’s doubles, Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko defeated Briton Olivia Nicholls and Slovak Tereza Mihalikova 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the quarter-finals.
On the men’s side, Alexander Zverev fired 32 winners against just 24 unforced errors in a dominant 6-2, 6-2 win over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.
“For me, I always say that this is my favorite centre court in the entire world,” said Zverev, who is a two-time Madrid champion. “I only lost twice in my entire life here, so I hope that stays that way, throughout the next 10 days, and I can continue playing good tennis. As long as I do that, I’m happy.”
The top-seeded Zverev is to face Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round.
Recent Barcelona champion and Madrid eighth seed Holger Rune retired after dropping the first set of his second round encounter with Flavio Cobolli with a right knee injury, while Gael Monfils withdrew ahead of his clash with defending champion Andrey Rublev due to illness. Last year’s finalist Felix
Auger-Aliassime stumbled at the first hurdle, losing to Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo 7-6(5), 6-4.
The Canadian former world number six had a good start to 2025, winning two titles and reaching the final in Dubai but is currently on a four-match losing streak.
It was a good day for Argentines overall as Cerundolo’s brother, Francisco, also advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 result against qualifier Harold Mayot.
Francisco Cerundolo is to next take on his compatriot Francisco Comesana, who rallied back from 1-5 down in the opening set to upset 13th-seeded Arthur Fils 7-6(4), 6-4.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Thai women’s badminton player Pitchamon Opatniputh became the first known doping case at the Asian Games in Japan yesterday, testers said. The 19-year-old returned a positive test for banned substance furosemide and has been provisionally suspended, the International Testing Agency said. The teenager, ranked 18th in the world and regarded as a rising star back home, had been due to face China on Tuesday. The first full day of badminton action at Asia’s biggest sporting spectacular was on Sunday. “The athlete is prevented from competing, training, coaching or participating in any activity during the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026,” the ITA said. The agency noted
Japan has been starved of swimming success in recent times but with the Olympics two years away junk food-loving teenager Shin Ohashi has emerged as their next big hope. The 17-year-old, who stands just 169cm, has posted the two fastest 200m breaststroke times in the world this year and is aiming for the world record at this year’s Asian Games. Earlier this year he came within almost a second of the 2:05.48 record held by China’s Qin Haiyang. Ohashi has already won gold at the Asian Games in the 100m breaststroke after a dead heat with China’s Dong Zhihao, beating Qin into third
A NEW SEASON: The Games’ MMA bouts bear a limited resemblance to American UFC fights, sparing the cage, but organizers hope this is a step forward A sport once banned in much of the US and famously decried as “human cockfighting” by a high-profile politician is making an ambitious play for the Olympics. Mixed Martial Arts, known as MMA, is making its Asian Games debut this week in Japan — a milestone that fighters and organizers hope leads to bigger things. Galastein Tan, director general of the Federation of International Mixed Martial Arts, said being at the Asian Games was “a big step.” “As for any sport, the inclusion in the continental games is critical,” he said. “Obviously the inclusion means that you already have a good governance structure,
THREE BRONZES: Martial artists dominated Taiwan’s gains for Tuesday, while the baseball team delivered Thailand a thunderous 15-0 shellacking that morning Taiwanese athletes at the Asian Games collected another three bronze medals yesterday, bringing their medals to nine, leaving them in 10th place overall as of yesterday evening, trailing Uzbekistan and leading Iran. Taiwan’s baseball team roared back from a 5-0 defeat by South Korea on Monday to squash Thailand 15-0 as they head into their game today against Hong Kong at 6:30pm at the Games in Japan. KARATE The women’s team kata squad and men’s kumite competitor Chung Meng-yu won bronze medals yesterday. The 34-year-old Chien Hui-hsuan, who won bronze in the women’s individual kata event on Sunday, was joined by
RSS