Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday shook off some rust to post her first victory of the season on clay in Madrid and extend her winning streak to 13 matches.
The world No. 1, who was playing her first match since she completed the “Sunshine Double” by winning Indian Wells and Miami last month, committed 26 unforced errors in her 7-5, 6-3 win over Peyton Stearns of the US in the second round in the Spanish capital.
The defending champion, in search of a fourth career title at the Caja Magica, converted four of 12 break points against Stearns, double-faulted five times and dropped serve twice, before she made it over the finish line to set up a third-round meeting with Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian.
Photo: Reuters
“I’m super happy to start with a win, even though maybe the tennis wasn’t that good, but I felt like with every game I was playing, the better I was playing, so I really hope in the next one I bring a better performance,” said Sabalenka, who has won 24 of her 25 matches so far this year.
Earlier, Iga Swiatek made quick work of her opening test in Madrid, breezing past Daria Snigur 6-1, 6-2.
The Polish fourth seed needed just 61 minutes to advance past Snigur, who was coming off the first WTA Tour main draw victory of her career on clay over Daria Kasatkina.
The Ukrainian qualifier saved four match points against Kasatkina on Wednesday and secured the win by clinching the longest first-to-seven tiebreak on the tour for in eight years with a 15-13 scoreline.
Snigur had little fight left in her for her clash with Swiatek, who barring a brief blip early in the second set was in fierce form as she continues her quest for a first clay-court title since she claimed a fourth Roland Garros crown nearly two years ago.
“I’m very happy. Madrid is a special place to play, because of how special the tournament is, but also because of the conditions, so I’m happy that I adjusted well to them, and was solid and just playing my game,” said Swiatek, who is contesting her second tournament under the guidance of new coach Francis Roig.
The 2024 Madrid champion next faces 31st-seeded American Ann Li in round three.
Meanwhile, Hungarian world No. 63 Anna Bondar upset seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 to claim the first top-10 victory of her career.
Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka began her clay-court campaign with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Colombia’s Camila Osorio. She is to play Ukrainian qualifier Anhelina Kalinina for a spot in the last 16.
In the men’s singles, Paraguayan qualifier Adolfo Daniel Vallejo said he felt like he was living “a movie” after he dispatched former world No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4.
The 21-year-old cracked the top 100 for the first time last month — following a 14-1 start to the season at Challenger level — and is making his Masters 1000 debut this week. He is the first Paraguayan to compete in Madrid Open history and is next to take on American 17th seed Learner Tien.
“For me this is unbelievable. It looks like a movie, I don’t know what’s happening,” Vallejo told Tennis TV. “The other day I played on Manolo Santana center court. Today I played here. I used to watch him [Dimitrov], all the highlights. The points that he did against me today, I used to watch it on TV and to play against him ... wow, I can’t understand what’s happening. I’m just trying to enjoy all this.”
Former world No. 3 and 2019 Madrid runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas eked out a 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4) win against lucky loser Patrick Kypson of the US.
Currently ranked 80 in the world, the two-time Grand Slam finalist is to square off with eighth-seeded Alexander Bublik in the second round.
The soon-to-be-retiring Gael Monfils lost his opener 6-3, 6-4 to Camilo Ugo Carabelli, marking his last time competing at the Madrid Open.
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