Defending champion Sabalenka survives Linette battle to advance in Madrid

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka survived a big battle to advance to the third round of the Madrid Open by winning against Pole Magda Linette 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at the Caja Magica on Friday.

Belarusian Sabalenka, ranked No 2, will face the winner of the match between No 26 seed Katie Boulter and American wildcard Robin Montgomery next.

Linette played brilliantly to get back into the match and it took a big stroke of luck in Sabalenka’s favour – at 4-3 in the third – to get the break as her forehand hit the tape and dropped over. She then served out with an ace to clinch victory.

“She’s a tough opponent, we played a couple of times before and it was always tough battles,” Sabalenka said. “Tough battle today but I’m happy I was able to close this win.”

In the previous round of the Madrid tournament, Linette, ranked No 48, edged out Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (3-6, 6-4, 6-4).

Madrid WTA 1000, other second-round results (Caja Magica, clay, USD 8.770.480, most recent results first):

• Danielle Collins vs. Olga Danilovic
• Katie Boulter vs. Robin Montgomery
• Marketa Vondrousova vs. Shelby Rogers
• Jaqueline Cristian vs. Barbora Krejcikova
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Yulia Putintseva
• Sara Bejlek vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Marta Kostyuk vs. Mayar Sherif: friday
• Caroline Dolehide vs. Anhelina Kalinina: friday
• Ashlyn Krueger beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (14): 6-3, 6-3
• Cristina Bucsa vs. Daria Kasatkina: friday
• Jasmine Paolini (12) beat Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (WC): 6-0, 6-1
• Caroline Garcia (21) beat Xinyu Wang: 6-1, 6-4
• Mirra Andreeva beat Linda Noskova (29): 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Elena Rybakina (4) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-4, 6-3
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (20) beat Daria Saville (LL): 6-1, 6-4
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Xiyu Wang: 6-1, 6-4
• Leylah Fernandez (32) beat Anastasia Potapova: 7-5, 6-3
• Sloane Stephens beat Elise Mertens (28): 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
• Ons Jabeur (8) beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova: 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Arantxa Rus: 6-0, 6-0
• Maria Lourdes Carle (Q) beat Veronika Kudermetova (17): 6-4, 6-4
• Sorana Cirstea (27) beat Alexandra Eala (WC): 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (11) beat Sara Errani (Q): 6-3, 6-2
• Liudmila Samsonova (15) beat Naomi Osaka: 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
• Jelena Ostapenko (9) beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Emma Navarro (19) beat Nadia Podoroska: 6-2, 6-1
• Dayana Yastremska (31) beat Emiliana Arango (Q): 0-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Maria Sakkari (5) beat Donna Vekic: 6-3, 6-2
• Victoria Azarenka (23) beat Tatjana Maria: 6-3, 6-1
• Madison Keys (18) beat Irina-Camelia Begu: 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6)
• Sara Sorribes Tormo beat Elina Svitolina (16): 6-3, 7-5