Madrid tournament | Alcaraz and Sabalenka defend their titles with victories

(Madrid) The two-time reigning champion of the Madrid Tennis Open, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, did not seem to be hampered by a lingering arm injury on Friday, winning 6-2, 6-1 against Alexander Shevchenko in his first match of the tournament.

Alcaraz (third) played his first match in almost a month. He had not played since his defeat against Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals of the Miami tournament on March 28, missing the tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

“I didn’t know how I was going to feel on the field and I had doubts,” Alcaraz said. I returned to training this week taking things very easy and increasing the intensity slowly, and I still had doubts in my mind. But (Friday) I surprised myself and I’m happy that I feel good. »

Alcaraz, who received a first-round bye, played with a bandage covering most of his right arm. However, he showed the same aggressiveness in his game as in the last two years. He broke Shevchenko’s serve (59^e) four times, en route to victory.

Alcaraz was playing his first match on clay in Europe after experiencing problems on this surface in South America in February. He is looking for a first title at the French Open, which will take place in May.

He will face Thiago Seyboth Wild (63^e) in the third round. The Brazilian beat the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (29^e) 6-4 and 6-4.

The Russian Andrey Rublev (eighth) ended a streak of four defeats by defeating the Argentinian Facundo Bagnis (136^e) 6-1 and 6-4. Rublev had not won since the Indian Wells tournament in March.

The American Tommy Paul (16^e) dismissed the qualifier Lukas Klein (120^e) 6-7 (5), 6-1 and 6-4 in his first match on clay this season. He missed the Monte Carlo tournament due to injury.

Pole Hubert Hurkacz (eighth) beat Jack Draper (43^e) 6-1 and 7-5. Argentines Sebastian Baez (19^e) and Francisco Cerdundolo (22^e), the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (28^e) and the German Daniel Altmaier (61^e) also continued their progress.

Among the women, defending champion Aryna Sabalenka (second) faced strong resistance before defeating Poland’s Magda Linette (48^e) 6-4, 3-6 and 6-3.

Sabalenka had trouble at times on serve, but the two-time Australian Open champion slammed her 10^e ace on a match point in the Spanish capital.

Sabalenka got a little help from the net to record a big break that made it 5-3 in the third set when Linette was unable to get to the ball.

The Kazakh Elena Rybakina (fourth) defeated the Italian Lucia Bronzetti (46^e) 6-4 and 6-3, while the American Ashlyn Krueger (70^e) surprised the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (16^e) 6-3 and 6-3.

Russians Mirra Andreeva (43^e) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (22^e), Frenchwoman Carolina Garcia (24^e), and the Italian Jasmine Paolini (13^e) also advanced to the next round.