De Minaur Lone Aussie Hope in Madrid as Kasatkina Impresses on Women’s Side
Australia’s presence in the Madrid Open has been significantly reduced, with Alexei Popyrin and Chris O’Connell both exiting the tournament, leaving Alex de Minaur as the country’s only remaining competitor in the men’s draw.
Popyrin, seeded 25th, suffered a straight-sets defeat to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, losing 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) in the round of 64. O’Connell, who had advanced from the first round, was unable to overcome third seed Taylor Fritz, who cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 win.
De Minaur, currently ranked seventh in the world, will begin his campaign following a first-round bye, set to face Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on the main Manolo Santana Stadium court.
In the women’s draw, Daria Kasatkina delivered a strong performance in her first European match since switching allegiance to Australia, defeating American Alycia Parks 6-2, 7-5. The world number 14 now faces a tougher challenge in Russian 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who eliminated Serbian Olga Danilović in straight sets.
Elsewhere, tournament favorite and world number one Aryna Sabalenka continued her dominant form, defeating Russia’s Anna Blinkova 6-3, 6-4. Third seed Jessica Pegula also impressed with a commanding 6-2, 6-2 victory over Germany’s Eva Lys, marking her 27th win of the season.
There was an upset in the women’s draw as Russian Anastasia Potapova ousted eighth seed and Olympic gold medallist Qinwen Zheng of China, 6-4, 6-4.
