World number seven Stefanos Tsitsipas, who retained the title in Monte-Carlo and the final in Barcelona, surprised the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (118) at the start of the Masters 1000 in MadridE) 6-4, 6-4 in the second round on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Greek, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, arrived in the Spanish capital with ten wins from eleven matches played on clay in 2024. His only defeat came last Sunday in the final in Barcelona against Norway’s Casper Ruud.
A week earlier, he won his third Masters 1000 trophy, the third in Monte-Carlo (after 2021 and 2022), already at the expense of Ruud.
Monteiro held on
In gray Madrid on Saturday midday, Tsitsipas did well to deny the first two match points in favor of Monteiro at 5-3 on his serve, before taking the next game to break level at 5 everywhere – his only break point of the game.
Swiatek fast
In the women’s draw in Madrid, world number one Iga Swiatek quickly reached the round of 16 when she outclassed Romanian Sorana Cirstea (30).E) 6-1, 6-1 in 1h17.
Within a minute, Swiateková also rushed to enter the competition two days earlier at the expense of the Chinese Wang Xiyu (52E), dominated 6-1, 6-4.
Three-time winner of Roland-Garros, on the throne of world tennis 100E of the week, she will face either the Belarusian Victoria Azarenkova (26E), or the Spanish Sara Sorribes (55E) to advance to the quarterfinals.