Top seed Aryna Sabalenka was a comfortable 6-3 6-4 winner over Anna Blinkova, but 8th-seeded Zheng Qinwen’s struggles continued with a 6-4 6-4 defeat at the hands of Anastasia Potapova.
First matches are always tough, and against Bianca it's always difficult. Super happy that I managed to win. Still not at my best, of course, first match on clay, but super happy to be back and excited for the next match. Elena Rybakina
Also through to the Last 32 are Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, Daria Kasatkina and Ekaterina Alexandrova, all straight set winners on Friday at the Mutua Madrid Open, the WTA 1000 in the Spanish capital.
Sabalenka kicked off her quest for a 3rd Madrid Open title with a relatively routine win over Russia’s Blinkova, the World No 1 improving 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 3rd set point on the 48-minute mark.
The second also proved a straightforward affair, with an early break of serve enough for Sabalenka to punch her ticket to the 3rd round, where she awaits her former doubles partner Elise Mertens, after the Belgian saw off Colombia’s Camila Osorio, 6-3 6-3.
Sabalenka’s 3 Grand Slam titles have all come on hard courts, but the Belarusian power-hitter has shown she can compete on clay, with 2 trophies clinched from 9 finals reached on the surface.
The 26-year-old admits the French Open has proven to be a challenge for her, and she feels she has unfinished business in Paris after losing in the 2023 semi-finals to Karolina Muchova and the 2024 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.â€
Jessica Pegula, the 3rd seed, eased her way past Eva Lys into the Last 32 in Madrid
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No 3 seed Jessica Pegula also clinched her spot in the 3rd round, winning a contest between the top American and top German in the PIF WTA Rankings, Pegula emerging with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Eva Lys.
Madrid has been a milestone city for Pegula in the past, as she made her first career WTA 1000 final here in 2022, finishing as the runner-up to Ons Jabeur.
Since then, the American has become a 3-time WTA 1000 champion, as well as a Grand Slam finalist at the 2024 US Open.
Lys, the World No 68, who is firmly ensconced as the German No 1 by a wide margin, had 6 chances to break Pegula in the first set.
The American, though, erased 5 of them to keep her serve generally under control, and she proved mighty on return in the opener, blasting return winners nearly at will as she won 77% of points on Lys' second serve.
The second set was more of the same as Pegula closed out the 1 hour and 12 minute win.
Once again, Pegula stands alone as this year's tour-level match-win leader, after obtaining her 27th victory of 2025, and she is one victory ahead of Sabalenka, who has won 26 matches this year.
Pegula will try to keep her Madrid run going with a 3rd-round showdown against Moyuka Uchijima, which will be their first meeting, after the Japanese battled past Jabeur, 4-6 6-3 6-4, preventing a rematch of the 2022 Madrid final.
A lot is at stake for Pegula this week as a deep run could potentially see her claim the World No 2 ranking off Swiatek for the first time in her career.
Elena Rybakina got past Bianca Andreescu in their first meeting in two years
A showdown between Grand Slam champions closed out Friday's play, with 10th seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan beating Canada's Bianca Andreescu, 6-3 6-2, in the nightcap on Manolo Santana Stadium.
Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, took an hour and 17 minutes to oust the 2019 US Open champion in their first meeting in over 2 years.
“First matches are always tough, and against Bianca it's always difficult,†Rybakina said on court after her win. “Super happy that I managed to win. Still not at my best, of course, first match on clay, but super happy to be back and excited for the next match.â€
Currently ranked 11, Rybakina is defending 390 points from her semi-final run last year in Madrid, and she brought her booming play into her latest match-up with Andreescu.
The Canadian tried to dictate as much as she could, but Rybakina took charge of the points more often than not.
In the first set, Rybakina made 16 unforced errors to 8 winners, but she still controlled more of the outcomes than Andreescu, who had 3 winners to her 10 unforced errors.
The Rybakina miscues dwindled as the opener wore on, allowing her to win the final 3 games of the set, while she was also locked in behind her vaunted serve, never letting Andreescu have much of a look at a break.
Rybakina faced only 3 break points, all in the second set, and she swatted them all away, winning an impressive 80% of points when she got her first serve into play.
“We know each other well, and she is just coming back from injuries,†Rybakina said. “I knew that she would try to move me off court, change a little bit the pace of the game. I was trying to focus on myself and on the serve, and tried to stay aggressive. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but hopefully I can improve and be better in the [next] round.â€
In a marquee 3rd-round encounter, Rybakina will take on No 17 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, a former World No 3, who just won her 18th career title on the clay of Rouen on Sunday.
Anastasia Potapova upset 8th seed Zheng Qinwen in straight sets in the 2nd round of the WTA 1000 in Spain
© Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Earlier on Day 4, Russia’s Anastasia Potapova upset No 8 seed Zheng Qinwen, 6-4 6-4, ending a 0-8 streak against Top 10 players and, based on ranking, scoring her best win this year.
Potapova, ranked 39, took the Transylvania Open title back in February, and has now won 15 of 21 matches this season.
This was Zheng’s first match on red clay since winning the Gold medal in singles last summer at the Paris Olympics, while the Chinese previously had won 3 of 4 matches against Potapova.
After withdrawing from a round-of-16 match against Sabalenka a week ago in Stuttgart with an undisclosed injury, Potapova has put together 2 impressive wins, defeating Ashlyn Krueger in the 1st round here and producing a solid performance against Zheng, converting 5 of 9 break points in a match that required 100 minutes to complete.
“It means a lot because it's my first win against Top 10 in quite a long time,†Potapova said afterwards. “This win doesn't feel crazy and something out of this world, only because the last matches that we played it was such a battle, always the tiebreak was involved, over three hours. Maybe this gave me the feeling that I'm actually on the same level as her.
“I think it's just the mindset that I can do it. I didn't try to convince myself — I knew it. That was the difference. In the key moments, I was not afraid of hitting the ball because I knew deep inside that it could be my match.â€
Next up, in a Sunday 3rd-round match, Potapova takes on No 32 seed Sofia Kenin from the USA, who was a 6-3 6-2 winner over Lulu Sun of New Zealand.
14th seeded Daria Kasatkina, now playing under an Australian flag, defeated Alycia Parks to advance to the Last 32 on Friday in Madrid
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Also on Friday, World No 9 Paula Badosa delivered another blow to the tournament as she was forced to withdraw from her home event due to a lower back injury.
Meanwhile, No 14 seed Daria Kasatkina of Australia conjured up a brilliant backhand winner off an Alycia Parks smash to seal her 6-2 7-5 win over the American, setting up a Last 32 meeting with her former Russian compatriot No 21 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who came from 0-4 down in the second set to defeat Serbia’s Olga Danilovic, 6-3 6-4.
Greece’s Maria Sakkari took a positive step towards recapturing her form by dismissing 29th-seeded Magda Linette from Poland, 7-6(5) 6-3.
In an All-American affair, Peyton Stearns edged 15th seed Amanda Anisimova, 6-2 2-6 7-5, to notch up her 7th career Top 20 win, and the 2nd of 2025.
It was the first time the two 23-year-old Americans had faced each other at any level.
Stearns moves on to meet Swiss qualifier Rebecca Masarova, who advanced with a 6-3 6-3 win over Yulia Putintseva, the No 22 seed of Kazakhstan.
