Nobody in Madrid can keep Moyuka Uchijima down. The Japanese defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open. This is the first time she has advanced to the last eight of a WTA 1000 event and her second consecutive appearance in the quarterfinals after the tournament in Ruan two weeks ago.
Moyuka is clearly in fine fettle and after her last-sixteen victory she is guaranteed to leave the Spanish capital among the best fifty players in the world and with the best ranking of her career. In the live ranking, she currently occupies 47th place, but she could go much lower. This is her third consecutive win over Top 30 players, after she took down Jessica Pegula and Ons Jabeur in the previous two rounds.
At 23 years of age, she seems to have found her place among the elite of world tennis. If anyone had any doubts, Moyuka has well and truly dispelled them. Furthermore, Madrid would appear to be one of her favourite stomping grounds; this is her ninth consecutive victory in the Spanish capital, where she won an ITF event last year. In just twelve months the life of the Japanese player has changed enormously: “Last year at this time, I was playing in an ITF event and watching all these players on TV. Now I’m playing in the same tournament. Being back in the main draw here is very, very special and it makes me happy. I still can’t believe it. I’m still in a dream”.
Interestingly, the Japanese player is enjoying her best results on her least familiar surface: “I’d played on hard court and astroturf, which is what we have in Japan. Clay was a new challenge for me, but a couple of years ago I started to find my game on it. Actually it suits my game better. Last year it worked. This year I haven’t practised much on clay, but, match by match, I’m improving. I’m liking clay more and more”.
