Author: Chandra Moulee Das
On Friday, in the doubles round of 16, Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Luisa Stefani of Brazil were victorious, winning 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 against Sofia Kenin of the United States and Magda Linette of Poland. In the men’s category, Felix Auger-Aliassime from Montreal and Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ontario, beat Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal from Colombia with a score of 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2).
In the men’s singles, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz faced 41st-placed Emil Ruusuvuori. Alcaraz had to fight to avoid an early deficit, but managed to secure a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory to advance to R32. He should play Grigor Dimitrov in the next round, who beat Gregoire Barrere.
In another match, Italian Matteo Arnaldi caused an upset by beating third seed Casper Ruud 3-6, 4-6. Meanwhile, fifth seed Andrey Rublev continued his great form by beating Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4, taking his clay record to 9-1 for the year after winning Monte Carlo.
Moving on to the Madrid Open Women’s Singles R64, Bianca Andreescu suffered a defeat to China’s Wang Xiyu, losing 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. This was Andreescu’s first match since tearing two ligaments in his left ankle during the Miami Open in March. Eugenie Bouchard also suffered a defeat to Martina Trevisan of Italy, despite taking all three of her break points during the match. Trevisan managed to break Bouchard six times during the match.
On the other hand, top-ranked Iga Swiatek overcame Austria’s Julia Grabher 6-3, 6-2, converting three of five break chances. Swiatek faces Bernarda Pera in the next round, after the American beat Tatjana Maria 6-1, 6-3. Third seed Jessica Pegula, last year’s finalist, beat Poland’s Magdalena Frech 7-6 (5), 6-3. However, seventh seed Elena Rybakina was eliminated by Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, while American Alycia Parks beat Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 7-6 (5).