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Madrid Masters – Monday Highlights

By Steve Nicholls

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Madrid Masters – Monday Highlights

Performance Of The Day

While Serena Williams defeating American compatriot Sloane Stephens does not immediately catch the eye, such is the dominance the former has been displaying so far this season, it was the manner in which she claimed victory that impressed.

The 19-time Grand Slam champion dropped just four games against one of the sport’s up-and-coming stars, claiming a bagel in the last set to wrap up an unexpectedly one-sided win.

Considering Williams has been defeated by Stephens before, the ease with which she romped through on a surface that hasn’t brought her as much success as grass or hard courts will be a significant boost to her ahead of the rest of the tournament and the French Open.

Match Of The Day

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In a clash of the experienced competitor against the young pretender, Svetlana Kuznetsova came out on top in a three-set thriller against Garbine Muguruza.

The former had a plethora of chances to break her opponent, but the Spaniard did terrifically to save 11 out of the 16 break points she faced, while taking 3 of the 7 she mustered up herself.

In the end though, it was the Russian, a brilliant player to watch when on form, who came out a 7-5 winner in the decider against a typically game and competitive Muguruza to progress.

Shock of The Day

He may not have come anywhere near to fulfilling his obvious potential, but such is his ability it is always somewhat of a surprise to see Bernard Tomic exit at the hands of a player ranked outside the top-100.

That is exactly what Italy’s Luca Vanni did, however, as the world number 117 knocked out a man placed 91 places above him in the rankings.

A one-sided deciding set tie-break did the business for Vanni, with Tomic continuing to frustrate observers who know he can play so much better than he is at present.

One To Look Forward To

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The schedule for Tuesday at the Madrid Masters offers up some very tasty matches, but the one that stands out is Maria Sharapova’s clash against Mariana Duque-Marino.

Sharapova, lest we forget, is the reigning Roland Garros champion, but comes into this tournament in a poor run of form.

She may have got the better of Timea Bacsinszky in the first round, but a shock loss at the hands of world number 97 Daria Gavrilova just over a month ago and a defeat to Anglelique Kerber in Stuttgart last month has cast doubts over the Russian’s chances in the Spanish capital.

Therefore every game she plays will come under scrutiny from now until the French Open, and tomorrow’s match is no different.

Next: Madrid Pivotal For Nadal's Roland Garros Defence

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