The women’s draw of the Madrid Open kicked off with most of the big names gaining entry into the second round of the tournament.
Naomi Osaka, Maria Sakkari, Emma Raducanu, Garbine Muguruza, and Danielle Collins all qualified for the round of 32.
Former World No.1 Osaka, playing her first match since her final loss in the Miami Open last month, dispatched qualifier Anastasia Potapova 6-3, 6-1 in a litter over an hour.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka won 86 percent of her first-service points and converted five of her nine breakpoints to sweep to victory.
The No.4 seed Sakkari put her three-match losing skid to an end with a 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-4 comeback win over Madison Keys in two-and-a-half hours.
Sakkari reached the biggest final of her career at Indian Wells in March, but after falling to Iga Swiatek in that match, she dropped her opening contests in Miami and Stuttgart.
22nd-ranked Keys gritted out the opening set that saw no service breaks by either player, after a grueling 68 minutes but the Greek took control of the contest for her first win in over a month.
Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins halted Monica Puig’s comeback in the first round of the Madrid Open.
Collins seeded No.6 at a career-high ranking of world No.8 this week, won the last eight games in a 7-5, 6-0 victory.
Osaka and Sakkari are in the same quarter of the draw as Danielle Collins and Jessica Pegula, as well as dangerous unseeded players such as Bianca Andreescu and Kaia Kanepi.
No.9 seed Emma Raducanu pulled off a brilliant first-set comeback on her Madrid Open debut, coming from 5-2 down and saving two set points before defeating Tereza Martincova 7-6(3), 6-0 in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
World No.9 Garbiñe Muguruza kicked off her campaign with a strong 7-5, 6-2 win over Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round.
Madrid is Muguruza’s first tournament since her opening-round loss to Alison Riske at Indian Wells in early March with the former No.1 opting to skip Miami to take time to allow her body to rest and begin the clay season anew.
Despite losing the highest-ranked WTA player, Iga Swiatek, this week’s Madrid Open is shaping up to be one of the best claycourt tournaments in recent memory.
