Madrid (Spain) – In her second clay tournament of the season, Marketa Vondrousova is trying to build on her good momentum after reaching the semi-finals in Stuttgart and debuting with victory at the WTA 1000 in Madrid. Current number 7 in the world, the Czech overcame North American Shelby Rogers 6/1 and 6/3 in 1h17 of the match.
This was only the ninth victory of the season for Vondrousova, who withdrew from Indian Wells in March for personal reasons and only returned to play last week. The 24-year-old left-hander is the current Wimbledon champion and is just one place below her career-best ranking achieved in September. Playing on clay, she was runner-up at Roland Garros in 2019.
Vondrousova’s opponent in the third round in Madrid will be 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva, 43rd in the rankings, who avoided a Czech duel by beating Linda Noskova 4/6, 6/3 and 6/3. The clash is unprecedented on the circuit and Andreeva is trying to repeat last year’s great campaign in Madrid, in which she also reached the round of 16.
Czechs have opposite directions in the round in Madrid
Another Czech victory in the round came with 18-year-old left-hander Sara Bejlek, currently 136th in the rankings, who defeated Russian Anna Kalinskaya, 25th in the world, by 6/1 and 6/4. After achieving the biggest victory of his career, Bejlek will have a youth duel against the North American Ashlyn Krueger, 19 years old and 70th in the ranking, who also achieved an impressive result and defeated the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, 16th placed, by double 6 /3.
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The Czech Barbora Krejcikova, Roland Garros champion in 2021 and currently 27th in the ranking, suffered an upset in the debut of the Romanian Jaqueline Cristian, 73rd placed, who scored 2/6, 6/0 and 6/2. Cristian could face North American Danielle Collins or Serbian Olga Danilovic, who will close this Friday’s round.
Thigh injury causes Zheng to withdraw from debut
The day also marked the farewell to Chinese Qinwen Zheng, number 8 in the rankings and finalist at the Australian Open. The young 21-year-old player withdrew from the match against Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, ranked 50th, when she was trailing 7/5 and 2/0. According to the WTA, the reason for the withdrawal was an injury to the right thigh.
Since finishing runners-up in Melbourne, Zheng has won just five more games and the only week in which he managed two wins in a row was in Dubai, where he reached the quarters. The experienced Putintseva, 29 years old, reaches her 13th victory against top 10 and now faces the American Caroline Dolehide, who beat the Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 6/7 (6-8), 6/2 and 6/3.
