Madrid Open: Excellent Vekic fights back to beat Navarro and reach last 16

Croat Donna Vekic, the No 19 seed, reached the last 16 of the Madrid Open by beating American Emma Navarro, the No 11 seed, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at the Caja Mágica.

Vekic, ranked No 21, will face American Madison Keys, the No 5 seed, next.

Ahead of her victory, the Croat won against American wildcard Hailey Baptiste (6-4, 6-3).

Navarro, ranked No 10, won against Australian qualifier Maya Joint (7-5, 7-5) 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
• Sofia Kenin vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Elise Mertens
• 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 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