Sabalenka recovers from sloppy start to beat Mertens for place in last 16 in Madrid

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka shrugged off a slow start to beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens, the No 28 seed, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 for a place in the last 16 of the Madrid Open on Sunday.

The world No 1 was all at sea in an error-strewn first set as her former doubles partner won six of seven games from 2-0 down to move ahead.

But Sabalenka righted the ship and roared back to beat Mertens for the ninth time in a row, extend her advantage in their head to head battles to 10-2 and advance to a match with either Swiss qualifier Rebeka Masarova and American Peyton Stearns.

“I was trying to find the rhythm on my serve,” Sabalenka said on court. “The moment I started focusing on the timing, on not rushing the ball, on not overhitting, things really clicked.”

Ahead of her victory, the Belarusian defeated Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova (6-3, 6-4).

Mertens, ranked No 26, beat Colombian Camila Osorio (6-3, 6-3) in the previous round of the Madrid tournament.

Madrid WTA 1000, other third-round results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 7.854.000, most recent results first):

• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Elena Rybakina vs. Elina Svitolina
• Jessica Pegula vs. Moyuka Uchijima
• Rebeka Masarova vs. Peyton Stearns
• Maria Sakkari vs. Jasmine Paolini: sunday
• Sofia Kenin vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Marta Kostyuk: sunday
• Donna Vekic (19) beat Emma Navarro (11): 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Linda Noskova (31): 6-4, 6-2
• Coco Gauff (4) beat Ann Li: 6-2, 6-3
• Belinda Bencic beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (16): 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2)
• Madison Keys (5) beat Anna Kalinskaya (30): 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Yuliia Starodubtseva (Q) beat Liudmila Samsonova (18): 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0
• Diana Shnaider (13) beat Anastasija Sevastova: 6-0, 6-0
• Mirra Andreeva (7) beat Magdalena Frech (27): 7-5, 6-3