Sunday features third round singles matches from both the ATP and WTA draws.

On Saturday, a red-hot Stefanos Tsitsipas was stunned by a talented clay court player from Brazil, Thiago Monteiro.  On Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz plays another Brazilian, Thiago Seyboth Wild, who won 56 clay court matches at all levels last season. 

Other third round action on Sunday includes 2024 WTa titleholders Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, and Danielle Collins, as well as a WTA matchup between two top 20 seeds who are both having good seasons: Daria Kasatkina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. 

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Sunday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (20) vs. Daria Kasatkina (10) – Not Before 1:00pm on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium

Kasatkina is 17-9 on the year, having reached three finals (Adelaide, Abu Dhabi, Charleston).  She’s only 9-7 lifetime in Madrid, and had to come from a-set-and-two-breaks down in the last round against Cristina Bucsa.  But clay is certainly Daria’s best surface, as she holds nearly twice as many wins at Roland Garros than any other Major.

Pavlyuchenkova went all the way to the final at Roland Garros just three years ago, then was sidelined by injury in 2022, but returned to the quarterfinals again in 2023.  She’s 19-9 this season, and advanced to the semis in Madrid the same year as her French Open final.  Anastasia defeated Daria Saville in straight sets on Friday.

Kasatkina is 4-2 against Pavlyuchenkova, and also took their only clay court meeting, which was a straight-set victory at this same tournament a year ago.  I expect this contest to be tighter, though I still consider Daria a slight favorite.

Thiago Seyboth Wild vs. Carlos Alcaraz – Not Before 4:00pm on Manolo Santana Stadium

Alcaraz wore a sleeve on his injured right arm in his opening round, after withdrawing from both Monte Carlo and Barcelona due to the injury.  But it did not appear to at all impact his performance, as he beat Alexander Shevchenko 6-2, 6-1.  Carlitos is the two-time defending champion in Madrid, and is on a 12-match win streak at this event.

Seyboth Wild won a total of 61 matches last year at all levels, with only five of those not coming on clay.  He reached five Challenger finals on this surface in 2023, winning four of them.  Thiago is just 10-11 at tour level in 2024, and lost his first six matches of the year, though he scored a nice win in the last round over Lorenzo Musetti.

In their first career meeting, of course Alcaraz should be favored.  But this is a dangerous draw on clay, especially for a player who is not currently at their physical best.

Other Notable Matches on Sunday:

Mayar Sherif vs. Elena Rybakina (4) – Rybakina ousted Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti in straight sets on Friday.  On the same day, Sherif upset the 25^th seed, Marta Kostyuk.  When these players met two years ago in Cincinnati, Elena won in straights.

Andrey Rublev (7) vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (27) – Rublev arrived in Madrid on a four-match losing streak, as his on-court outbursts have resulted in a dip in form.  Davidovich Fokina is just 9-9 on the year, but the Spaniard did advance to the fourth round of this event a year ago.  Andrey is 3-0 against Alejandro, which includes two clay court victories.

Marketa Vondrousova (7) vs. Mirra Andreeva – The Wimbledon champ is now 4-1 on clay in 2024, and she upset Sabalenka in Stuttgart a week ago.  Andreeva came from a set down to eliminate another Czech player, Linda Noskova, on Friday. 

Robin Montgomery (WC) vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2) – Sabalenka overcame Magda Linette in three sets on Friday, while Montgomery, a 19-year-old lefty, ousted Katie Boulter. 

Danielle Collins (13) vs. Jaqueline Cristian (Q) – Collins is now on a 14-match win streak, after surviving a third-set tiebreak in the last round.  Cristian came through qualifying and has won four matches to reach this stage, which included an upset of Roland Garros champ Barbora Krejcikova. 

Denis Shapovalov (PR) vs. Sascha Zverev (4) – Zverev comfortably defeated Borna Coric in his opening round.  Shapovalov is currently ranked outside the top 100, as he’s struggled with injury since last season, but he earned an impressive win on Friday over Tomas Martin Etcheverry.  Sascha leads their head-to-head 5-3, and claimed their only meeting on this surface.

Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.

Rafael Nadal was back to his brilliant best as he defeated Alex De Minaur 7-6(6) 6-3 to reach the third round in Madrid.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion was in great form as he produced vintage shot-making to claim a straight sets win over the Australian.

This match was a rematch from their contest in Barcelona which De Minaur won in straight sets.

In that contest, Nadal had ran out of gas but there were no signs of that happening here as he grabbed the early break for 2-0.

After a moment of controversy involving not challenging, Nadal quickly conceded the break and momentum to De Minaur who progressively was more aggressive.

The Australian’s consistent power from the baseline was rewarded as he took a break for 4-3 and what seemed to be control of the match.

However Nadal was not going to bow down easily as he was playing much better than he did in Barcelona, breaking immediately back as the opening set went to a tiebreak.

After gaining a 6-2 lead, Nadal became tight as the finish line neared with De Minaur taking the next four points.

However Nadal held his nerve to send the Caja Magica wild, taking a 76 minute opening set.

It was one way traffic from then on as Nadal was hitting insane backhand cross-court winners and dominating the baseline rallies.

De Minaur’s tactic of drop-shots did not seem to work as the Australian was broken at the start of the second set.

This time Nadal did not surrender so quickly and the Spaniard kept holding serve before breaking again to seal a phenomenal victory.

After the match Nadal admitted that the win means a lot to him, “I’m super happy to be able to be competitive against a great player like Alex, play over two hours,” Nadal told the ATP website.

“It means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke, so I can’t thank enough everybody here. If I am able to play weeks in a row and if I am able to play tennis, then I’m going to see how far I can go and how competitive I could be. But that’s not the case yet, just step by step and let’s see how I recover.”

Nadal will now aim to reach the last 16 when he faces Argentinian Pedro Cachin, who knocked out Frances Tiafoe in three sets.

Iga Swiatek admits she doesn’t follow many athletes but one of those she does has given her ‘tips’ during this year’s Madrid Open. 

The world No.1 continued her quest for a maiden title in the Spanish capital on Saturday with a one-sided 6-1, 6-1, win over Sorana Cirstea in the third round. Claiming her 26th win of the season so far against only four losses. Swiatek won 66% of her first service points and broke the Romanian six times. 

During her time in Madrid, Swiatek was seen speaking to skiing legend Lindsey Vonn, who is a multiple Olympic and World Championship medalist in her sport. The American was also in the stands watching the tennis player in action during her opening match against Wang Xiyu. 

‘I look up to her,” Swiatek said of Vonn after beating Cirstea. “I didn’t have a lot of athletes that I followed but she was one of them when she skied. I also read her biography and I found huge inspiration from that.
“We met a couple of times already and we always talk for a longer time than I usually do. 
“I feel like for sure she’s a person to talk to if I need advice or I just want to talk to somebody who is cool because she’s really cool.”

As to what the two speak about, Swiatek revealed that she has received some advice regarding her ‘mental game.’ Although she did not shed any light on what that was. 

“We have been kind of talking about the mental game here (in Madrid). She gave me some tips,” Swiatek continued.
“You can feel like her power even with the way she talks and her confidence. So for sure this is something that I might learn from her.”

The 22-year-old hopes that the advice could help her triumph in Madrid which is the only big European clay court event she is yet to win in her career. Although she did reach the final 12 months ago before losing to Aryna Sabalenka. It has been more than a decade since the Women’s title was won by the top seed in Madrid. 

Swiatek will play Sara Sorribes Tormo in the next round.