Breakthroughs, setbacks and second chances in Madrid

MADRID — Yuliia Starodubtseva was a surprise quarterfinalist last fall at the China Open. After qualifying, she won four straight matches — all in straight sets — defeating No. 14-ranked Anna Kalinskaya in Beijing’s Round of 16. She secured her finest professional tournament result, vaulting into the Top 100, before losing to Coco Gauff.

What followed was an almost unfathomable drought, seven months — 203 days – without a main-draw victory at the Hologic WTA Tour level. The engaging 25-year-old from Ukraine lined up for 15 professional events across four continents and 10 different countries, failing to qualify eight times and going 0-for-7 when she did.

Here at the Mutua Madrid Open, she won two qualifying matches then broke through with a 6-2, 6-2 first-round victory over wild card Linda Fruhvirtova. Elisabetta Cocciaretto was a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victim, advancing Starodubtseva to the third round.

Down a set and a break, she rallied to defeat No. 18 seed Liudmila Samsonova 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0. Monday’s Round of 16 opponent is the formidable No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva, who has already won two WTA 1000 events this year.

For the past few years, Starodubtseva has been hovering around No. 100 — the approximate ranking that guarantees automatic entry into the main draw of Grand Slams. She entered Madrid at No. 99 and is guaranteed to at least be No. 80, one shy of her career-high ranking.

More than anything, Starodubtseva is a survivor. Last year she became the only player in the Open era to qualify for all four Grand Slams in the same calendar year. She collected her first major win at Wimbledon.

While Starodubtseva is the most unlikely player in Monday and Tuesday’s Round of 16, she’s joined by four of the top five seeds: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 2 Iga Swiatek, No. 4 Coco Gauff and No. 5 Madison Keys.

As a public service, we present another edition of Courtside Changeover — a Mutua Madrid reset in midstream to savor a week of surprises — and a look at what the future might hold.

Swiatek-Eala II doesn’t disappoint

The big shock at the Miami Open was Alexandra Eala’s straight-sets quarterfinal upset of No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek. One month later, they met again — only this time on red clay, Swiatek’s favorite surface.

The 19-year-old Filipina was up a set and a break — only to lose 10 of the last 13 games.

“Things to take back and to learn,” Eala said afterward.

Match of the tournament (so far)

She trailed 4-1 in the third set and suffered a filthy, nasty fall, but Belinda Bencic came back to defeat No. 16 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2) in Saturday’s third-round match.

Unseeded, Bencic continued her comeback from maternity leave in a match that ran 3 hours and 3 minutes.

Comeback V.2

This is why we love tennis:

Anastasija Sevastova came into the tournament unranked and, despite an 0-8 record against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, defeated her in the first round in straight sets. Sevastova gave birth to daughter Alexandra in December 2022 and returned to the tour after 22 months away — and promptly tore her ACL in her fourth event back, last year in Austin.

After rehabilitation and another 13-month hiatus, the 35-year-old from Latvia split two matches in W75 in Koper, Slovenia before coming to Madrid. After beating Pavlyuchenkova there was an even bigger surprise awaiting …

… Peak Penko

Jelena Ostapenko is consistently one of the most unpredictable and entertaining players on tour. The week before, she defeated No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek to win the title in Stuttgart — as good as it gets.

And then, the No. 23 seed fell in her first match to the unranked Sevastova 7-6 (2), 6-2, leading to …

… Order restored

The feel-good story of the tournament, Sevastova — understandably — hit the wall in the third round, falling to No. 13 seed Diana Shnaider 6-0, 6-0 in 44 minutes.

Upset(s) Special

There were some impressive upsets — Peyton Stearns’ three-set win over No. 15 Amanda Anisimova among them — but Anastasia Potapova pulled off the most notable. She defeated No. 8 Zheng Qinwen 6-4, 6-4 in a second-round match.

After Zheng’s last red-clay match, at Roland Garros, she received the Olympic gold medal for singles.

Heading into the second week, all of the Top 7 seeds were still intact — and then, very suddenly, two were gone. No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Jasmine Paolini left the building courtesy of Moyuka Uchijima and Maria Sakkari, respectively. It was the first Top 25 win for Uchijima and for Sakkari, it ended an 0-for-8 streak against Top 10 players.

Numbers don’t lie

Birthdays, apparently, mean the world to Belinda Bencic.

Back on March 10 — her 28^th birthday — she defeated Diana Shnaider in the third round at Indian Wells. Here in Madrid, on her daughter Bella’s first birthday, Bencic scored a first-round win over qualifier Zeynep Sonmez.

Elina Svitolina’s 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 10 seed Elena Rybakina was her second consecutive match win in Madrid — believe it or not, a career first. She’s now 9-0 on clay for the season.

Ekaterina Alexandrova’s clay-court turnaround from year to year is difficult to explain. Last year she was 1-7 on clay — this year, she’s rebounded to 8-2 after beating Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 7-6 (3).

More numbers, how about Iga?

It’s getting harder to find anyone who can touch Iga Swiatek on clay. She’s won nearly 90% of her WTA 1000 matches on the surface — a ridiculous 89.7% to be exact — and no one is really that close. Whether she’s grinding it out or blowing past opponents, Swiatek owns the dirt.

The Heat … is on the Heat

Floridian Coco Gauff loves the NBA’s Miami Heat. They have already defied the odds, becoming the first No. 10 seed to survive the play-in process – but they trail the No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers 3-0.

“It’s amazing that we’re in the playoffs — we’ll see how we do,” Gauff said. “I don’t know who’s going to win this year. I would love for [the L.A. Lakers’] LeBron [James] to get another ring, but that’s going to be tough. Maybe [Boston] Celtics again, I don’t know.”

Shot of the tournament

Yuliia Staropodubtseva had an overhead gift — and Elisabetta cocagetto politely returned it with interest.

Fleet feet

Giuliana Olmos of Mexico is ranked No. 39 among doubles players on the Hologic WTA Tour. But on Sunday, the 32-year-old distinguished herself by running the Madrid 10K race. She posted a photo on Instagram, holding her medal, after crossing the finish line in 45:01 minutes.

“It was super fun,” Olmos said. “It’s really nice when they’re cheering you on, even if they don’t know who you are. There was a band playing and that gives you energy — even if you’re dying.

“And my two best friends were waiting at the finish line.

Olmos partnered with Chan Hao-Ching here in doubles but they lost a first-round match to No. 2 seeds Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani. After running a 46-minute 10K in Charleston, Olmos’ goal was to break that standard.

Several hours later, the endorphins were still coursing through her body.

“I got a massage, had a steak and some ravioli,” Olmos said. “Doing good — fresh as a daisy.”