Madrid Open: Swiatek wobbles but beats wildcard Eala
Iga Swiatek defeated Alexandra Eala 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday and will play No 31 seed Linda Noskova in the next round
Iga Swiatek in Madrid (Khadim Sylla / Tennis Majors)
Pole Iga Swiatek, the second seed, defeated Filipino wildcard Alexandra Eala 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the third round of the Madrid Open at the Caja Mágica on Thursday.
“From the beginning I didn’t play smoothly, but I managed to solve some problems, and at the end I won,” she reflected later.
Swiatek must have thought history was about to repeat itself – Eala was the player who knocked her out in Miami last month en route to the semi-finals.
But she dismissed any suggestion that she had been concerned about the draw.
“I understand that there’s hype about these young players, but, you know, you got to be focused on yourself. And, honestly, I didn’t realise it, I kind of had better things to think about,” she told a press conference afterwards.
Swiatek, ranked No 2, will play No 31 seed Linda Noskova next as she seeks to defend the title she won here last year.
In the previous round of the Madrid tournament, Eala, ranked No 72, won against Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (6-3, 6-2).
Madrid WTA 1000, other second-round results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 7.854.000, most recent results first):
- Elena Rybakina vs. Bianca Andreescu
- Jessica Pegula vs. Eva Lys
- Emma Raducanu vs. Marta Kostyuk
- Yulia Putintseva vs. Rebeka Masarova
- Anastasia Potapova vs. Qinwen Zheng
- Sonay Kartal vs. Elina Svitolina
- Sofia Kenin vs. Lulu Sun
- Camila Osorio vs. Elise Mertens
- Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Olga Danilovic
- Moyuka Uchijima vs. Ons Jabeur
- Peyton Stearns vs. Amanda Anisimova
- Aryna Sabalenka vs. Anna Blinkova
- Katie Boulter vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Magda Linette vs. Maria Sakkari
- Alycia Parks vs. Daria Kasatkina
- Paula Badosa vs. Veronika Kudermetova
- Dayana Yastremska vs. Coco Gauff
- Madison Keys vs. Lucia Bronzetti
- Leylah Fernandez vs. Ann Li
- Yuliia Starodubtseva vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto: thursday
- Anastasija Sevastova beat Jelena Ostapenko (23): 7-6 (2), 6-2
- Linda Noskova beat Maria Lourdes Carle (Q): 7-5, 6-1
- Diana Shnaider (13) beat Katie Volynets: 6-1, 6-2
- Emma Navarro (11) beat Maya Joint (Q): 7-5, 7-5
- Mirra Andreeva (7) beat Marie Bouzkova: 6-3, 6-4
- Beatriz Haddad Maia (16) beat Bernarda Pera (LL): 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
- Anna Kalinskaya (30) beat Diane Parry (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-4
- Donna Vekic (19) beat Hailey Baptiste (WC): 6-4, 6-3
- Liudmila Samsonova (18) beat Caroline Dolehide: 6-4, 6-4
- Magdalena Frech (27) beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro: 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-4
- Belinda Bencic beat Clara Tauson (20): 7-5, 7-5
