WTA Madrid: Halep starts Mouratoglou era successfully, defending champion Sabalenka already out
Simona Halep , recently looked after by Patrick Mouratoglou, started the WTA Tour 1000 tournament in Madrid with a smooth victory. Now the number two of the tournament, Paula Badosa, is waiting for the Romanian. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka , on the other hand, lost to her feared opponent.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Apr 28, 2022, 06:18 pm
So far, so good: In the first match after the announcement of the collaboration with Patrick Mouratoglou, Simona Halep won 6: 2 and 6: 3 against Zhang Shuai at the WTA Tour 1000 tournament in Madrid. At the next appearance, the two-time Grand Slam winner will be really challenged: Then it's against local hero Paula Badosa. The Spaniard, number two in Madrid and, after the cancellation of Iga Swiatek, the best-ranked player in the WTA world rankings, surprisingly won 6: 3 and 6: 0 against Veronika Kudermetova.
Cori Gauff didn't linger long with her first-round opponent either: The American, who repeatedly uses the services of the Mouratglou Academy, won 6-0 and 6-2 against Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova. The Swiss Belinda Bencic, who recently won a tournament on clay for the first time in Charleston, made a successful start.
Sabalenka and Pliskova lose
The defending champion, on the other hand, was eliminated - and that's not entirely surprising. Because Aryna Sabalenka, who was successful in the Caja Magica last year, traditionally has problems with Amanda Anisimova. And promptly lost the fourth encounter with the American in Madrid. In the third set, Sabalenka made up for a deficit of 1:4, but ultimately lost 2:6, 6:3 and 4:6.
And for Karolina Pliskova, the Madrid adventure is already over. Last year's Wimbledon finalist lost 4: 6 and 5: 7 to her compatriot Marie Bouzkova.
Here is the individual tableau in Madrid
madrid map