04/24 Madrid Open

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Ace Cream's daily newsletter during Masters 1000 and Grand Slams, every morning at 8:30.

Today is Friday, April 24, it's 08:30 in Madrid and it's 12 degrees. Ok, let's get started.

On today's menu

• 🇧🇾 Sabalenka starts smoothly: Stearns beaten 7-5 6-3
• 🇵🇱 Swiatek finds her rhythm: Snigur dispatched in an hour
• 🇮🇹 Paolini comes back against Siegemund after losing the first set
• 🇬🇷 Tsitsipas saves himself in the tiebreaks against Kypson, Monfils out
• 🇮🇹 Sinner debuts today against Bonzi, Musetti opens with Hurkacz

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇧🇾 Sabalenka Gets Off On The Right Foot

Aryna Sabalenka beat Peyton Stearns 7-5 6-3 in her debut as defending champion on the Manolo Santana. A match less linear than the scoreline suggests: the American held serve for a long stretch in the first set, with Sabalenka forced to find the break only in the twelfth game.

More than the result, what matters is how the world number one managed the moments when Stearns tried to drag her into open rallies, never forcing the issue ahead of time. In a draw that has already lost several seeds, a start like this — clean but with the engine revving up gently — is perhaps what she needed most.

🇵🇱 Swiatek Rediscovers Fluidity

Iga Swiatek got past Daria Snigur 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour on the Manolo Santana, with a high percentage of points won on first serve and a number of unforced errors far lower than in recent weeks. Third round now against Ann Li, the number 31 seed.

The feeling is that this was the performance she had been looking for over the past few tournaments: nothing definitive, but the kind of match in which the clay and the shot start talking to each other again. After a dim start to the season, matches like this usually weigh more in the legs than in the rankings.

🇮🇹 Paolini Comes Back, The Way She Knows How

Jasmine Paolini beat Laura Siegemund 3-6 6-2 6-4, after a first set in which the German had pulled her into her tennis of low slices, changes of pace and drop shots. Paolini had to rework the length of her shots to avoid being sucked into a match that wasn't hers.

It's not a flashy win, but it's the kind of match Jasmine needed to win exactly like this: staying in the match when the match wasn't to her liking. Siegemund at 38 is still an awkward first-week opponent for anyone, and coming through in three sets without handing her any initiative is already a useful piece of the tournament.

🇬🇷 Tsitsipas Saves Himself, Monfils Bows Out

Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Patrick Kypson 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(4) after nearly three hours, saving multiple set points in the second and finding the tiebreak in the third against a lucky loser who had put him under pressure on both sides. A match that says little about his physical condition and a lot about his state of mind: the Greek is still looking for a 2026 that has never really clicked.

Louder was Gael Monfils' defeat, out 3-6 4-6 to Camilo Ugo Carabelli. At 39, with a wild card, the Frenchman offered flashes of his crowd-pleasing tennis but had to yield to the solidity of the Argentine, who is finding consistency on European clay. For Monfils, the suspicion remains that the red clay season may be more of a farewell tour than a comeback.

WHAT HAPPENS TODAY:

• Sinner vs Bonzi (ATP) - The world number one's debut on the Manolo Santana not before 16:00, against a French qualifier. Jannik's first outing on the Madrid clay after last year's absence: more than the match itself, what matters is seeing how he feels on the surface.
• Musetti vs Hurkacz (ATP) - On the Arantxa Sanchez at 11:00, a first round that on paper isn't a first round. Hurkacz is now far from the top but still an awkward opponent, and Lorenzo arrives in Madrid after his second-round exit in Monte-Carlo to Vacherot, with a ranking drop on the horizon and the need to turn things around on a surface that should be his.
• Zheng vs Kenin (WTA) - The Chinese, seeded 32, opens the day on the Manolo Santana against a Kenin who in recent months has rediscovered flashes of her 2020 tennis.
• Rybakina vs Ruse (WTA) - The other favorite from the top half comes on right after. A first round on clay, a less congenial surface, that serves mostly for Elena to calibrate her serve with the altitude of the Caja Mágica.
• De Minaur vs Jodar (ATP) - Night session with the Spanish crowd called upon to push home wild card Rafa Jodar against the solidity of the Australian.
• Gauff vs Jeanjean (WTA) - Coco's debut against a French qualifier on the Arantxa Sanchez, not before 15:00.

Dig deeper

• Swiatek Sweeps Into Madrid Third Round
• Madrid Open Day Two: Stefanos Tsitsipas survives thriller as Gaël Monfils exits
• Friday, April 24th Order of Play at the Madrid Open 2026: Sinner debuts
• What is the Madrid tennis schedule?
• Madrid draw: What is Sabalenka's path to a fourth title at the Caja Mágica?

Have a good breakfast and a great day.

See you tomorrow at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast.