Saville secures second-round spot in Madrid | 25 April, 2024 | All News | News and Features | News and Events

Australian Daria Saville saw off qualifier Hailey Baptiste in Madrid to set up a second-round clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Madrid, Spain, 25 April 2024 | Matt Trollope

Daria Saville has made the most of her eleventh-hour entry into the Madrid Open, beating Hailey Baptiste to progress to the second round.

Saville overcame the American qualifier 6-4 7-6(5) to set up a meeting with 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2021 Roland Garros finalist.

Saville fell in the final round of Madrid qualifying but was awarded a lucky loser entry to replace the injured Karolina Pliskova.

Her victory over Baptiste marked her first main-draw win in the Spanish capital since 2016, the year she progressed to the quarterfinals.

Saville, who rises to a projected ranking of No.86 following her latest win, has split two career meetings with Pavlyuchenkova, although they have not played since 2017.

She was the lone Australian winner in first-round matches in Madrid, with Thanasi Kokkinakis, Aleksandar Vukic and Alexei Popyrin all exiting the tournament.

Kokkinakis, dominant in two qualifying wins to reach the main draw, pushed Jack Draper to the limit before falling 7-5 in the third.

Vukic extended Taro Daniel to three sets, while Popyrin fell 7-5 6-2 to in-form Argentine Mariano Navone, a player who has soared from outside the top 100 to world No.41 in just two months.

Alex de Minaur, Jordan Thompson, Christopher O’Connell and Max Purcell are still to play their opening matches in Madrid.

Aussies in action – Madrid

RESULTS

Women’s singles, first round
[LL] Daria Saville (AUS) d [Q] Hailey Baptiste (USA) 6-4 7-6(5)

Men’s singles, first round
Jack Draper (GBR) d [Q] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) 6-3 3-6 7-5
Taro Daniel (JPN) d Aleksander Vukic (AUS) 6-2 6-7(1) 6-1
Mariano Navone (ARG) d Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 7-5 6-2

COMING UP

Men’s singles, first round
Christopher O’Connell (AUS) v Matteo Arnaldi (ITA)
Max Purcell (AUS) v Marcos Giron (USA)

Women’s singles, second round
[LL] Daria Saville (AUS) v [20] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Men’s singles, second round
[10] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v TBD
[32] Jordan Thompson (AUS) v TBD

Women’s doubles, first round
[2] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/Anastasia Potapova

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