The second round of the Mutua Madrid Open saw the tournament’s 32 seeds open their campaigns in the Spanish capital. Vote for your favorite shot of the past two days below.
Danielle Collins triumphed in a late-night thriller over Olga Danilovic, and this was the turning point. Danilovic held a point to go up a set and a double break, and found a screaming backhand pass on the run — but Collins managed to stretch and find a stab volley to deny the Serb.
Our Jabeur has hit better drop shots than the one she attempted in this point against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. But having got herself into trouble, the Tunisian’s magic hands got her out of it again with an absurd flicked pass off her shoelaces.
The intensity increased with every shot in this battle of the angles between Magda Linette and Aryna Sabalenka — and it was the Pole who came out on top, finding the necessary change of direction before slamming home a backhand winner.
The counter-drop shot is a frequent sight on clay. The counter-lob winner is a rarer beast, though — but Marta Kostyuk showed the vision and feel to pull it off against Mayar Sherif.
“Even if you’re Usain Bolt, you’re not getting to that one,” marvelled the commentator after arguably the best in a string of drop shot winners that Yulia Putintseva conjured against Zheng Qinwen. The sweep of Putintseva’s racquet as she caresses the ball into the nearest corner of the court: pure art.
How to prove your hot shot was no fluke: do it again, arguably even better. Cristina Bucsa‘s backhand winner off a drive volley had been one of the best shots of the first round, and the Spaniard once again showed off her anticipation to crack a near-identical pass against Daria Kasatkina.
You can’t get further out of court than Emiliana Announcement was here. The Colombian was almost at the side wall as she tracked down Dayana Yastremska’s angled backhand, and somehow found an even sharper angle to slice a pass past the Ukrainian.
The penultimate stroke in this Sara Smiles Tormo rally was arguably the best — an improvised, flicked backhand angle that seemed impossible. Elina Svitolina still dealt with it well, and Sorribes Tormo still had to sprint the length of the court to put away the final forehand.
Source: https://www.wtatennis.com/news/3984082/vote-which-was-your-favorite-point-of-the-madrid-second-round-