The 23rd edition of the Mutua Madrid Open is underway. The tournament kicked off on Monday with the men’s and women’s qualifiers. From the get-go the Caja Magica was packed with fans who turned out in numbers to get the tournament off to a flying start.
On the court the level of tennis was impressive across the board. In the men’s competition the seeds were true to their ranking: Fabio Fognini, Dusan Lajovic, ‘Gago’ Garín, Botic Van de Zandschulp and Juanma Cerúndolo all progressed into the second round of qualies. However, tennis is tennis and there is always room for the odd upset. Monday saw Adrian Mannarino, Mackenzie McDonald, Taro Daniel and Marton Fucsovics all fall at the first hurdle.
The home players did not enjoy the best start to the tournament in the women’s competition. Leyre Romero, Ariana Geerlings, Ruth Roura, Nuria Torner and Nuria Párrizas bowed out in round one of qualifying in their home tournament against Sommez, Buzic, Bernarda Pera, Blinkova and Quevedo, respectively. However, local fans will be sure to have plenty to cheer about in days to come in the Caja Magica. Cristina Bucsa and Kaitlin Quevedo enjoyed better fortunes.
Young Canary Islander Kaitlin Quevedo is realising a dream in Madrid. At just 19 years of age she opened in style with a convincing win against Nuria Párrizas in the all-Spanish clash of the day. Quevedo did not falter in her opener on court 6 of the Caja Magica. She swept her compatriot aside 6-2, 6-4 and will now be playing top seed Anna Blinkova for a place in the main draw. It promises to be a tough test.
Cristina Bucsa produced the second reason for Spanish tennis to celebrate by beating Poland’s Maja Chwalinska 7-5, 6-0. The Spaniard, who was 5-2 down in the first set, strung together eleven games to come back and win the match.
The second round of qualies will take place on Tuesday, when the women’s main draw will also commence. A two-time Grand Slam champion, no less, Naomi Osaka will play her opener in the Manolo Santana Stadium on Tuesday. The Spanish contingent will see Jessica Bouzas take on the Egyptian Mayar Sherif. First though, kicking off the day’s play on centre court will be young Filipino star Alex Eala who stunned the tennis world recently by reaching the semifinals at the WTA 1000 in Miami.
