Saturday was a busy day at the Mutua Madrid Open, with eight qualifying and ten first-round matches, and it will be followed by “loco” Sunday, scheduled to feature 22 matches.
Fresh off her stellar title run in Stuttgart, which made her the first player to win two WTA titles this season, Petra Kvitova successfully opened her Madrid title defense, with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Sofia Kenin. Showing her claycourt expertise, wildcard Svetlana Kuznetsova beat tenth seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 6-4, while Aliaksandra Sasnovich recovered from a bagel first set to dispatch last week’s Stuttgart runner-up Anett Kontaveit, seeded 14th in Madrid, 0-6 6-3 6-2.