Quick and clear. Thursday’s action at the ATP and WTA events in Madrid

The return of a former finalist, a women’s world number two duel, four Czechs on the courts and more. What were the highlights on the Caja Mágica courts on Thursday?

Four Czech women and a world number two

We have already reported on the match of Czech number one Petra Kvitova. Kvitova will not add a fourth title in the Spanish capital.

The match of the Czech tennis player sixteen years younger followed. Unfortunately, Linda Fruhvirtova started where Kvitova left off and was caned in the first set. In the second set, the young Czech picked herself up and from 0:2 levelled the match. Unfortunately, only to lose it again by losing her serve in the eighth game.

Markéta Vondroušová went into her match with Poland’s Linnet as the favourite. The first set was a show of lost serves and errors. It ended in a tiebreak where the 23-year-old Czech won only one ball and lost the set.

Vondroušová’s favourite stopballs didn’t go her way, but she fought off the opening game of the next set. It reached 5::4, followed by a break for the Czech and the set win. The first for the Czech colours on Thursday. And unfortunately the last.

The lover of psychological thrillers tried to make a thrilling story out of the third set of her match in Madrid and came close. She almost came back after losing her serve. When Magda Linnet served for the win, she was reaching for a break, had two break points, but didn’t make the final move. In the longest match of Thursday’s program, the Czech lost 6::7, 6::4, 4::6.

Karolína Muchová was also tipped as the favourite for her match and she also lost. Romanian Beguova could rely on her first serve and defeated the native of Olomouc 6: 4, 7: 5.

World number two Aryna Sabalenka goes from one extreme to the other at the Madrid event. Three times she has gone undefeated in the first round, but when she overcame this obstacle the year before last, she won the tournament outright.

She has already lost to Romania’s Cirstea this year at another event in the same category (Miami). In Thursday’s match between these tennis players, Sabalenka was better from the end of the first set and thanks to seven aces she won 6: 4, 6: 3.

Men

Former world number three Dominic Thiem is eager to return to the top positions. This restart of his career after an injury has lasted more than a year, and there was also a change of coach. He loves the clay and has already reached the final twice here in Madrid.

On Thursday, he got past Britain’s Edmund in the second round. There he will face Greece’s Tsitsipas, the tournament’s number four. It’s a match to look forward to.

Andy Murray, who was even ranked No. 1, takes on Italy’s Vavassori. This article is about the duel of the Briton.

The winner of the tournament from Banja Luka, Dusan Lajovic, continues his form. In 84 minutes he drove Australian Jason Kubler off the court. The Serb did not face a single break point in the match and will not be without chances in the second round, where he will face Canadian Auger-Aliassime.

On Friday we will have a hearty portion of interesting matches and also the start of the last two Czech women in the tournament. We will inform you about all this soon.

Source: ATP, WTA