Competition gets underway in the men’s main draw on Sunday in the Caja Mágica. The Mutua Madrid Open will again enjoy the spectacle of the best players on the ATP Tour, some of the stars of the week in the Spanish capital. The season’s second ATP Masters 1000 on clay will lift its curtains to provide us with more of the magic it is renowned for.
After the start of the WTA competition and the ATP qualifiers, tennis lovers will be treated to the tournament in its full splendour from tomorrow.
In the ATP event, Serb Dusan Lajovic and the Canadian Denis Shapovalov will open the day’s play in the Manolo Santana Stadium not before 14:30. The world No. 14 arrives on the Madrid clay hoping to revindicate himself after bowing out in the second round of the ATP 500 in Barcelona. It will be the third appearance here of Mikhail Youzhny’s pupil, who will be trying to improve on the semi-final he reached in 2018.
The rest of the day in the men’s competition will play out in Stadium 3. First will come the turn of Spaniard Pedro Martínez, granted a wildcard by the tournament. The Valencian will have to see off US player Tommy Paul if he wants to access the second round. The Spaniard is an accomplished clay player, with a title from the Challenger in Marbella to his name and a final in Alicante against Carlos Alcaraz last season.
Next, we will witness the two most attractive ties of the day. Kazakh player Alexander Bublik will open on the Madrid clay against one of the most solid players on tour, Marton Fucsovics. The world number 39 won his only title on clay in Geneva in 2018 and will be looking to cause an upset on the banks of the Manzanares.
Another of the players to receive an invite from the organisers is Jaume Munar, a finalist at the ATP event in Marbella a few days ago. The Mallorcan will face a hugely promising player, the Australian Alex de Miñaur. The world No. 25 has already won an ATP title, in Antalya, and this will be his second appearance in the Spanish capital, where he will be hoping for a solid performance.
In the women’s competition, the second-round matches from the bottom half of the draw will take place tomorrow. Second seed Naomi Osaka, will meet Czech player Karolina Muchova at 11:00. The centre court of the Caja Mágica will also play host to the clash between Aryna Sabalenka (No.7 in the world) and Daria Kasatkina, as well as the match between Simona Halep and Chinese player Saisai Zheng.
The Arantxa Sánchez Stadium promises an enticing duel between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and ex-world No.1 Karolina Pliskova and the day’s play will be brought to a close by the Kazakh Elena Rybakina against Belgian player Elise Mertens, 13th seed.
The men’s qualifying round will also be completed tomorrow with players such as Lorenzo Musetti, Carlos Taberner and Roberto Carballés all bidding for their ticket to the final draw in the Caja Mágica.
The rest of the second-round Madrid WTA 1000 matches:
Manolo Santana Stadium, third match at 14:30:
Jessica Pegula (USA) vs [12] Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
Arantxa Sánchez Stadium, from 11:00:
[16] Maria Sakkari (GRE) vs Anett Kontaveit (EST)
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) vs [11] Jennifer Brady (USA)
