The 2022 Madrid Open has witnessed a changing of the guard of sorts since there’s only one Top 10 player left from the WTA.
Garbine Muguruza was the top seeded player (7th) entering the Round of 32. But she was dealt with a shocking loss, leaving Ons Jabeur as the highest seeded player remaining in Madrid (8th).
Simona Halep, who was a former No. 1 herself, is also banging in form in this competition. And here at SBOTOP, we’ve highlighted how she was on a remarkable comeback campaign in these past few days.
Furthermore, another big name in Naomi Osaka suffered an early exit, but she vowed to come back stronger in future competitions.
As the tennis action continues to heat up in Spain, let us recap the latest Madrid Open 2022 updates.
Simona Halep keeps on rolling
We won’t be surprised if Simona Halep crawls her way back into the WTA Top 10 soon since she’s regaining her form here in Madrid.
Currently she’s 21st with no thanks to injuries, but she was the back-to-back Madrid Open champion in 2016 to 2017 for a reason, and she’s eager to prove why she’s should be favoured by the Madrid Open 2022 odds.
Following her win over No. 2 and 2021 WTA finalist Paula Badosa, Simona Halep won over American teenager Coco Gauff, 6-3, 6-4. After a superb first set, Halep had to claw her way back from 4-1 down to winning five straight games en route to the victory.
Simona Halep is now slated to take on Ons Jabeur in the quarter-finals where she has a 2-1 edge in their head-to-heads. All three prior meetings came on hard courts, including Halep’s most recent win in Dubai earlier this year.
Ons Jabeur got some payback as she defeated Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, following the latter’s win over the former during the Charleston Open final last April.
“I came here to take my revenge. I wish I played like that in the final in Charleston, to be honest,” said Jabeur.
The 27-year-old Tunisian was pushed by Bencic in three sets and the two played the final set of their match under a closed roof due to a weather delay.
Anhelina Kalinina and Bianca Andreescu claim pivotal wins
Anhelina Kalinina and Bianca Andresscu were ranked low heading into this tournament as Kalinina was No. 165 while Andreescu was ranked No. 111. However, those rankings didn’t matter at all.
Anhelina Kalinina defeated No. 7 Garbine Muguruza, 6-3, 6-0. On the other hand, Bianca Andresscu claimed her first Top 10 victory on clay by beating Danielle Collins, 6-1, 6-1.
The Ukrainian was utterly dominant against Muguruza as she had the edge in every statistical category. Kalinina fired 26 winners to Muguruza’s eight and she won 74-per cent of her first serve points compared to her counterpart’s 56-per cent.
Up next for Kalinina is Emma Raducanu, who is also in strong form despite parting ways with Torben Beltz after only working together for five months.
Andreescu, meanwhile, won her fourth match back from her six-month mental health break. Her hiatus seems to have paid off as she was ultra-aggressive against Collins – including a run of nine straight games which effectively ended the match.
“I’ve been trying to find my way back, and we were talking the other day about how I hope it doesn’t take too many matches. I was happy I was able to get in that zone again and I found all the tics that helped me in my previous matches,” said Andresscu.
She will face No. 12 Jessica Pegula next in a bid to reach her first quarter-final since Strasbourg last year. The 21-year-old Canadian won their only meeting so far during the 2019 Newport Beach WTA 125k series.
Naomi Osaka shares her plans moving forward
Naomi Osaka was eliminated early by Sara Sorribes Tormo in the second round because she was limited in her movement. After her strong opener against Anastasia Potapova, Osaka’s lower leg was heavily taped because of a niggling Achilles knock.
When asked about the possibility of a long-term injury, Osaka brushed that off as she looks to have a better outing in the next few tournaments, starting at the Italian Open on May 9.
“I don’t want to retire because of injury again in my career,” Osaka said. “Because sometimes I think about the Michael Jordan ‘Flu Game’, and I’m like, I should be like that too.”
She also added that she’ll be playing mixed doubles at Wimbledon in June, but she didn’t confirm the identity of her partner amid speculation that she’ll be teaming up with Nick Kyrgios.
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