Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after defeating Alexander Shevchenko during a match at the Madrid Open, on April 26.Juan Medina/Reuters
Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz showed no sign of a nagging arm injury as he eased to victory in his opening match at the Madrid Open on Friday.
The third-ranked Alcaraz brushed aside Alexander Shevchenko 6-2, 6-1 on the outdoor clay inside the Caja Magica in his first match in nearly a month.
Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka faced tougher resistance in her opening match while beating Magda Linette 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on the women’s side.
Alcaraz was coming off a right arm injury that kept him from playing in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. He said this week he wasn’t sure whether he could play in Madrid.
“I didn’t know how I would feel on the court, and I had my doubts,” Alcaraz said. “I had started practice this week taking things very easy and slowly picking up the intensity, and I still had doubts swimming in my mind. But today there was none of that. I surprised even myself and I am happy with how good I felt.”
This was Alcaraz’s first match since the Miami Open quarter-finals where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov nearly one month ago. Madrid is the Spaniard’s first appearance on the European clay court swing – he struggled in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro in February – as he aims to win his first French Open title next month.
The Spaniard said he would be happy to play “three of four matches” in Madrid, where he is seeded second behind Jannik Sinner.
Alcaraz, who had a first-round bye, played with a wrapping covering most of his right arm from his wrist up past his elbow. But he looked pretty much like the same aggressive player who has dominated here for the past two years and given Spanish tennis fans hope there is life after Rafael Nadal.
Alcaraz broke Shevchenko’s serve four times and will next face Thiago Seyboth Wild after the Brazilian beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-4.
Seyboth Wild upset Daniil Medvedev at last year’s French Open and should offer a stiffer challenge to Alcaraz in the round of 32.
Seventh-seeded Andrey Rublev snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating Facundo Bagnis 6-1, 6-4. Rublev’s last win came at Indian Wells in March.
Tommy Paul got past qualifier Lukas Klein 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 in his first clay-court match of the season after missing Monte Carlo due to injury.
Eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz beat Jack Draper 6-1, 7-5, while Denis Shapovalov, Francisco Cerdundolo, Alejandro Davidovich, Daniel Altmaier, and Sebastian Baez also moved on.
Sabalenka’s slow start
The second-ranked Sabalenka struggled with her serve at times against Linette, but the two-time Australian Open winner struck her 10th ace on match point.
Sabalenka got some help from the net to get a key break and go up 5-3 in the third set when Linette was unable to reach a shot by the Belarusian that clipped the top of the tape.
Sabalenka has either won it all in Madrid like she did in 2021 and last year, or gone out in the first round as she did in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
“Hopefully it’s going to be a good sign and I will keep it like that,” she said. “I either lose in the first or I win (the title).”
Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina beat Lucia Bronzetti 6-4, 6-3 to take her season-leading win haul to 27 as she seeks her fourth title of 2024.
Rybakina will next face Egypt’s Mayar Sherif after she upset Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round.
Fifth-seeded Zheng Qinwen, who lost the Australian Open final to Sabalenka, withdrew with a right thigh injury while trailing Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 2-0.
Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who made her breakout at Madrid last year, bettered Linda Noskova 4-3, 6-3, 6-3.
American Ashlyn Krueger downed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-3, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Carolina Garcia, and Jasmine Paolini were among other players who advanced.