Third round men’s and women’s singles action takes place on Sunday in Madrid.
The schedule features Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut taking on two-time recent Major semifinalist Karen Khachanov, as well as Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina facing recent Munich champion Holger Rune. Also, the Spanish No.1 and defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz, plays Grigor Dimitrov.
The WTA top seed, Iga Swiatek, is also in action on Sunday, as well as last year’s Madrid Open runner-up, Jessica Pegula.
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.
Karen Khachanov (10) vs. Roberto Bautista Agut (20) – 11:00am on Manolo Santana Stadium
Khachanov is 17-8 this season, and advanced to the semis at the last two Majors. He equaled that result last month in Miami. While hard courts remain his best surface, he was a Roland Garros quarterfinalist in 2019, and has reached the second week of that event in five of the last six years. However, he’s only 2-5 lifetime in Madrid, after defeating Thiago Monteiro in three sets on Friday.
Bautista Agut was a semifinalist nine years ago in his Madrid Open main draw debut, but has failed to advance beyond the third round ever since. While he’s a Spaniard, most of his best results have come outside of clay. Roberto is just 11-11 on the year, after eliminating Quentin Halys in the last round.
Bautista Agut has a considerable 6-2 edge in this rivalry, However, all six of those victories have come on hard courts or grass. The two times they’ve played on clay, Khachanov has prevailed. Their matches are almost always tight, with six of their eight encounters going the distance. But on this surface, Karen must be favored. Yet between the altitude in Madrid, and his home crowd advantage, this may be Roberto’s best chance to notch his first clay court win in their head-to-head.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (29) vs. Holger Rune (6) – Last on Manolo Santana Stadium
Rune is 22-8 this season, and 9-1 on clay across the past few weeks. Since last fall, he’s now 40-10, with three titles and three runner-up trophies. The young sensation turned 20-years-old on Saturday, and is already one of the world’s best players. In his last match as a teenager, Holger survived a third-set tiebreak against Alexander Bublik, after doing the same last Sunday to win the title in Munich.
Davidovich Fokina is 15-11 this year, and having played every week of the clay season this month, is only 4-3 on this surface. His only career ATP final came a year ago in Monte Carlo, losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets. Alejandro was a French Open quarterfinalist in 2021, and is now 3-3 lifetime at his home country’s biggest tournament.
In their first career meeting, Rune is a considerable favorite. Only a few ATP players have performed better than Holger over the course of the last six months. And while Davidovich Fokina will have the advantage of a late-night Madrid crowd on his side, he remains an inconsistent performer.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Jessica Pegula (3) vs. Marie Bouzkova (29) – Pegula is now 25-7 on the year, while Bouzkova is just 7-10. Marie is 3-1 against Jess at all levels, but they’ve split their two recent tour-level encounters, both of which were tight three-setters on a hard court.
Yoshihito Nishioka (28) vs. Andrey Rublev (5) – Rublev is 22-9 this season, and like Rune is 9-1 on clay, after defeating Stan Wawrinka in straight sets on Friday. Nishioka is 9-7 in 2023, yet leads their head-to-head 2-1, though all three matches have taken place on hard courts.
Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Bernarda Pera (28) – Swiatek is 21-4 this year, and has claimed her first five clay court matches of the season. Pera is 9-8, and as per Tennis Abstract, is 2-10 lifetime against top 10 opposition.
Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (26) – Alcaraz scarcely survived a stern test from Emil Russuvuori in the last round, bringing his 2023 record to 24-2. Dimitrov is 11-7 this season, and 0-1 against Carlitos, having lost 6-1, 6-3 last November in Bercy.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
