Tuesday was the first day of main draw matches in Mutua Madrid Open, as apart of the qualifying matches in both ATP and WTA competition, 10 match-ups from ladies main draw opened the play on main stage in this year's edition of Madrid's tournament.
The day started with a cracking 3-hours battle between Ana Bogdan and Anna Bondar The match decided in third set's tie-break ended up with a score 4-6 6-4 7-6(2) in the favour of the Belgian, who was a slight pre-match favorite. The outcome of this match is definitely something to regret for Bondar, as the Hungarian was leading 5-2 in deciding set with a double break advantage. Bondar did not manage to serve for the win twice in a row, allowing her opponent to perform a comeback. Bogdan could even snatch the victory by winning 5 games in a row, but despite slipping away the advantage, Bondar defended 5 matchpoints within own service in 12th game, which was 7 deuces long. Deciding set was an epic battle between both and an absolute highlight of the day, as it lasted 93 minutes in general.
Apart from this, just one other match ended up in 3 sets, as Sorana Cirstea won her first on-court appearance since a great run in Miami where she advanced into semifinals of the WTA 1000 tournament. The Romanian defeated Lauren Davis with a score 6-3 3-6 6-1.
Anett Kontaveit came back to the competition after 2.5 months of being absent in the WTA circuit. The Estonian has already played some matches two weeks ago, playing for her national team in the Billie Jean King Cup Group II, where she helped her country by winning 3 out of 4 matches. The first clay court match this season was a tough challenge for Kontaveit though, as she got a really difficult opponent in her first round, playing against Karolina Muchova. The Czech was definitely a better player today, and expectedly won the match with a dominant score 6-2 6-2. There is definitely some time needed for the Estonian to get the groove back, as the recent month of her career were tormented with the health issues, which resulted in falling down in the ranks, where Kontaveit is placed in 87th posiiton right now. Muchova will play against tournament's 31th seed Irina Camelia Begu in second round.
Some other notable names started or ended their Madrid's singles campaign on Tuesday. Sofia Kenin is still way from finding her form back, as the American suffered another early exit, losing to Maryna Zanevska. The Belgian has neeeded just 59 minutes to defeat the 2020 Australian Open champion, earning the first career's win on Madrid's soil with a score 6-0 6-3. Linda Fruhvirtova advanced to second round in third consecutive clay tournament, eliminating Katie Volynets in straight sets 6-3 7-5. Yulia Putintseva has also needed just two sets to make into second round. The Kazakh defeated Claire Liu 6-4 6-4 and advanced into next round, where she is supposed to play against tournament's 5th seed, Caroline Garcia.
