Day Two of the Mutua Madrid Open left some players with a final opportunity to make Wednesday’s quarterfinal or find themselves waiting for the next opportunity. The likes of Sorana Cirstea and Caroline Wozniacki were in reach of the 3-0 run in their groups with the round of eight already secured.
Belinda Bencic was one away from clinching a spot but had to go through Karolina Pliskova to do so. She took the first game but went to deuce with the Czech in the second. After two breaks and an ace, Pliskova managed to even up early. Crosscourt shots helped Bencic return to a lead after three but the current world number three leveled back at two-all.
Bencic launched three consecutive aces and took the game on a slice for 3-2. Mistakes from Bencic allowed a pivotal situation to determine a winner with a tiebreak. They opened with a long rally that ended with Bencic gaining the first point. After Pliskova tied, the Swiss star went on a three-point streak and added another to take a 5-1 stance. Achieving match point, Bencic scored a huge return at the wide end of the court completing the victory.
In her second matchup with Fiona Ferro Bencic edged the French player with point errors on deuce. Ferro took the second game but found herself back in a gap with the Swiss ahead by the end of the third. It remained an even game as Ferro leveled after the fourth putting Bencic under pressure to improve. The 23-year-old got back out from at 3-2, but Ferro kept things tight and forced a tiebreak to determine the winner. Ferro forced Bencic to chase a shot before setting up the line drives that helped her win.
Elina Svitolina and Victoria Azarenka both had losses under their belts making their meeting an important one. Svitolina drove herself to victory in the first game as the Belorussian had trouble moving. She got the problems figured out in the shape of a victory in the second game. The two opened the third with a 29-shot rally before Azarenka scored back to back aces. Cross courts gave the Belorussian a 2-1 lead over Svitolina before going on to put tremendous focus to take the win 3-1 in a quick improvement.
After two failed attempts to get a match in, Eugenie Bouchard had her chance against Angelique Kerber. They started with a long rally for the opening point which Kerber won. The German had the early lead but let it slip away at the hands of Bouchard. Kerber got on the board but the Canadian led the way after three hoping to cap her first win. Kerber responded in the fifth keeping close to Bouchard but her skills got her through five with the lead.
The former world number one dug in during amazing rallies that made it a three-all situation with the tiebreak left. Mistakes by the Canadian allowed Kerber to rally on free points and take the win away from Bouchard who was frustrated with her actions.
One who came through all her matches was Wozniacki who faced off for the final time in round-robin action against American Madison Keys. The Illinois native had trouble getting used to the game and went down against the Dane who never let up winning game after game. It came down to a simple shutout that gave the recent retiree her third consecutive win. With other matches being determined due to technical issues, the WTA will have eight players advancing into Wednesday’s quarterfinal.
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