Four out of four. Never in the history of the Mutua Madrid Open have the Spanish ladies enjoyed a better start. Friday saw Sara Sorribes complete the second-round quartet with her win (d. Pavlyuchenkova) in the final session in the Manolo Santana Stadium to join Paula Badosa (d. Kudermetova), Garbiñe Muguruza (d. Tomljanovic) and Nuria Parrizas (d. Cirstea) in the second round of the clay WTA 1000.

The current prosperity of Spanish women’s tennis was reaffirmed by an achievement that, while it is not the first time four home players have made it to round two, has the added value that none failed to clear the first hurdle in the Caja Mágica.

The second round has only included four Spanish women on two previous occasions. In 2013 Carla Suárez (d. Samantha Stosur), Anabel Medina (d. Stefanie Voegele), Lourdes Domínguez (d. Simona Halep) and Tita Torró (d. Francesca Schiavone). Only Silvia Soler was absent having failed to get past Kristina Mladenovic in her opener. That year, Medina became the first Spaniard to reach the quarter-finals, where she lost in three sets to Serena Williams (6-3, 0-6, 7-5).

Fue una de las victorias del Día 4⃣

¡Qué gran partido, ?? @sara_sorribes! ?@WTA | @WTA_Espanol | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/dkTIfDKOsW

— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 30, 2022

More recently, in 2018, Carla Suárez again led the home charge at the #MMOPEN with a win over the Czech Barbora Strycova. She was joined by Garbiñe Muguruza (d. Shuai Peng) and Sara Sorribes (d. Madison Keys), who are also both in the second round in 2022, along with Lara Arruabarrena (d. Marta Kostyuk). The other home players were Silvia Soler and Georgina García, but they failed to progress.

That year, the Canary Islander also reached the quarter-finals, where Carolina Garcia managed to stop her in her tracks (6-2, 6-3); while the Venezuelan-born Spaniard bowed out to Daria Kasatkina (6-2, 4-6, 6-3) in the last sixteen, still her personal best in Madrid.

The future looks exceptionally bright for the Spanish players at the 20 th anniversary of the biggest WTA event in Spain. Badosa played in the semi-finals last year and now occupies the second rung in the world rankings. Muguruza is bidding to surpass her record and earn a long-awaited place in the quarter-finals, while Sorribes and Parrizas have already outdone themselves on the Madrid clay.