Monday, May 5, 2014

Upstarts swept off the clay in Madrid

Belinda Bencic, Madison Keys, Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolina, Alize Cornet, Genie Bouchard....If you didn't see them yesterday or today, you'll have to wait. Every one of them has gone out in the first round in Madrid.

Not all the "upstarts" are gone, though. Getting through the first round were Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Garcia (def. 7th seed Angelique Kerber, who once again had to retire with a back issue) and Sloane Stephens.

But look what else has been going on. Dominika Cibulkova went out in the first round, and failed to win a game in the second set of her two-set loss to Sam Stosur. Lucie Safarova beat Flavia Pennetta, Petra Kvitova scraped and scrapped past Sorana Cirstea, and Francesca Schiavone defeated Elena Vesnina. Wild card Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor lost in the opening round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Of interest in the next round is a match to be played between countrywomen Francesca Schiavone and Sara Errani.

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