MADRID, 27 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Mutua Madrid Open will kick off this Thursday with the start of the action in the Caja Mágica in the women’s main draw, where the Spanish Paula Badosa will debut her status as number two in the world in search of shining again at the WTA 1000 in the capital, accompanied by a Garbiñe Muguruza who returns to action after spending a month and a half on a date that has not been too good for her in her career.
Although the previous rounds are already starring on the tracks of the Madrid venue, it will be this Thursday when the event ‘truly’ begins, where the two best national players hope to opt for a local champion.
Thus, since in 2009, the tournament also hosted the WTA circuit, no Spanish has managed to play even the final. The best result, however, is just a year ago, when Paula Badosa, then invited by the organization, stood in the semifinals, stopped by the Australian Ashleigh Barty, number one in the world.
And that performance, as the Catalan recognized, marked a before and after in her career, which began to take off until landing last Monday at number two in the world and, after the last-minute drop of the Polish Iga Swiatek, being the first favorite on the red clay of Madrid where she will have to overcome many difficulties from the start.
The draw for the draw was not excessively kind to the Spanish tennis player, who will debut this Thursday against an already dangerous rival like the Russian Veronika Kudermetova, who has also won three of her four matches, although the last one, last month in the quarterfinals Indian Wells final, went to Badosa in a clear way (6-3, 6-2).
The two in the world comes with the reinforcement of being a semifinalist in the red clay of Stuttgart (Germany), different from that of the Caja Mágica because it is ‘indoor’ and does not exist at the altitude of Madrid, and if it beats its first rival, in On her way to the penultimate round there are still dangerous names like the Romanian Simona Halep, twice champion and two times runner-up, the young American Coco Gauff, the Swiss Belinda Bencic, executioner in Charleston (United States) or the Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
Neither does Garbiñe Muguruza, who will appear at this Mutua Madrid Open as seventh seed and with the unknown of knowing how she will respond to a month and a half without playing and in a scenario that has choked her so far.
The one from Caracas had to stop after being eliminated in Indian Wells by Allison Riske due to an annoying tendinitis in her shoulder that has made her miss the last month and a half. Now, she arrives without competition, but “fresh” in what will be her first match on clay of the season and looking to improve her records in the capital, where she has not passed the third round.
The double champion of ‘Grand Slam’ will debut on Friday against the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, 38 in the world with whom she has a 3-2 balance and who has just been a quarterfinalist on the red clay of Istanbul. From there, although Swiatek is no longer as a theoretical rival in the quarterfinals, there are possible opponents of the level such as the American Sloane Stephens or the young British Emma Raducanu.
In addition to Badosa and Muguruza, the women’s draw will also include Sara Sorribes and Nuria Párrizas, who will try to shine in the Caja Mágica. The woman from Castellón will start her journey against the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the thirteenth favourite, and if she wins she could meet the Japanese Naomi Osaka, whom she already won in the Federation Cup a few years ago, while the Granada-born woman will play this event for the first time and will debut against the Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
As for the favorites, everything opens up even more after the absence of Swiatek, who was planted in Madrid on a streak of 23 wins in a row and four titles in his pocket (Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Stuttgart). The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka will act as defending champion with a difficult debut against the young American Amanda Anisimova.