Sport
Serena Williams wins – advances to next round in Madrid
Defending champion Petra Kvitova beat Marina Erakovic 6-2, 6-3 in her first-round match.
Kvitova needed over an hour to beat Erakovic, with the Czech player saving all three break points against her while converting four.
Also on Monday, Andrea Hlavackova, Ekaterina Makarova, Lucie Hradecka, Lucie Safarova and Sara Errani won their first-round matches.
Local favorite Carla Suarez Navarro rallied to beat 15th-seeded Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 to reach the second round.
In the men’s tournament, Spain’s Nicolas Almagro rallied to beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3.
Almagro saved four set points before hitting long to lose the first set in a tiebreaker. The thirteen-ranked Spanish player broke his opponent in the opening game of the second after adjusting his game to the new court surface to win the match in three sets.
“The court isn’t very good, it’s very slippery,” Almagro said of the unorthodox blue clay court that has been criticized by players after it was introduced for the first time in this year’s tournament.
