MADRID (AP) — Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka faced tough resistance in her opening match at the Madrid Open before beating Magda Linette 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on Friday.
The second-ranked Sabalenka struggled with her serve at times, but the two-time Australian Open winner struck her 10th ace on match point at the Caja Magica in Spain's capital.
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.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek won her opening match on Thursday. Sabalenka beat Swiatek in last year's final in Madrid and also won here in 2021.
Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina beat Lucia Bronzetti 6-4, 6-3, while American Ashlyn Krueger downed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-3.
Mirra Andreeva, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Carolina Garcia, and Jasmine Paolini also advanced.
On the men's side, eighth-ranked 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.
Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz is set to open his title defense later on Friday against Alexander Shevchenko despite fitness concerns that had made him doubt he could play.