WTA Madrid: Svitolina knocks out Rybakina, Pegula Paulini out

On April 27, local time, the third round of the women's singles upper half of the women's singles was launched at the WTA1000 Madrid station. 17th seed Svitolina beat 10th seed Rybakina 6-3, 6-4 to mark her best career in Madrid and extend her winning streak to nine. As last year's semi-finalists, Rybakina, who lost her big points, will face a further drop in the world rankings.

Svitolina will next face Greece's Sakkari for a place in the quarter-finals, who swept past sixth seed Paulini 6-2, 6-1. The top 10 seed was also No.3 seed Pegula, who lost 3-6, 2-6 to Japan's Moe Natsu Uchijima, who claimed his first career Top 10 win and reached the round of 16 of the 1000 for the first time. Uchijima will face 21st seed Aleksandrova, who defeated 14th seed Kasatkina 6-3, 7-6(3) in the quarterfinals.

Sabalenka infographic

Top seed Sabalenka overcame Belgian sensation Mertens 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 to make it nine wins in a row and will face American Stearns in the fourth round, who swept past qualifier Masarova 6-2, 6-0 to set her best record in Madrid.

Potapova, who had beaten Zheng Qinwen, came up 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) to 32nd seed Kenin and saved two match points in the tiebreaker to break her best personal record and reach the last 16 of the clay 1000 for the first time, where she faced 24th seed Kostyuk, who defeated Kudermetova 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the round of 16 for the first time.

Women's Singles Fourth Round Matchups:

Sabalenka[1] vs Stearns

Kostyuk[24] vs Potapova

Moe Natsu Uchijima vs Aleksandrova[21]

Svitolina [17] vs Sakkari

Andreeva[7] vs Starodhubtseva

Gauff[4] vs Bencic

Case[5] vs Vekic [19]

Swiatek vs Schneider[13]

(Text, Editor/Faye Wong, Photo/Visual China)