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Sunday, April 28, 2024

Wk.17- Hey Diddle-Diddle, Madrid's at the Middle






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*WEEK 17*
[Madrid 1st-3rd Rd.]



RISERS: Mirra Andreeva/RUS and Jaqueline Cristian/ROU
...a year ago, during the week she turned 16, Andreeva reached the Round of 16 in Madrid in her maiden 1000 MD event. Well, Mirra's back.

Now about to turn 17 (on Monday), the Hordette is back in the 4th Round after posting wins over Taylor Townsend and Linda Noskva from a set down, then getting her second career Top 10 victory (w/ Jabeur, AO '24) with a straight sets upset of Marketa Vondrousova.



Andreeva is next set to meet Jasmine Paolini with a berth in the QF on the line.



Already with a Cluj SF, Charleston QF and historic BJK Cup comeback with Romania on her ledger in recent weeks, Cristian added her best career 1000 result in Madrid, qualifying and reaching the 3rd Round with victories over McCartney Kessler and Dasha Saville (in qualifying), and then Magdalena Frech (down 5-1 in the 1st, she won 12 of 14 games to finish) and Barbora Krejcikova (dominating the 2nd/3rd sets after dropping the 1st vs. the former RG champ) in the MD.

Cristian claimed the 1st set vs. Danielle Collins, as well, but couldn't end her blazing Final Countdown run as she extended her long winning streak by one with a three-set victory.


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SURPRISES: Olga Danilovic/SRB and Maria Lourdes Carle/ARG
...after starting '24 at 1-4, Danilovic returned in March after a two-month absence. The Serb's re-start has been an improvement, as she came into Madrid having reached a QF and SF in a pair of 125 events.

She qualified with good wins over Camila Osorio and Jule Niemeier, reaching just her fourth career 1000 MD. She recorded her first win with a comeback victory over Clara Burel, climbing out of a 6-3/4-0 hole and saving four MP. A round later, she battled Danielle Collins past midnight, serving for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd. As Collins pushed toward victory in the deciding TB, Danilovic again deflected a series of MP after falling behind 6-2.



She couldn't do it all night/morning, though, as Collins finally put away her sixth MP of the breaker. Still, her week gives Danilovic an 8-4 mark since her return.

Danilovic has been something of an enigma over the years, flashing great potential and then soon after sliding back into the shadows until she begins the cycle anew. In 2018 at age 17, she won her maiden WTA title (as a lucky loser, no less, in her tour MD debut) in Moscow, but didn't see another tour-level final until 2022 (Lausanne, her *only* other one). Meanwhile, in all four of her career slam MD appearances she's won at least one match, including a 3rd Round result last year in Paris. She reached a 125 final last year, as well, but has never climbed higher than #93 (last June) in the rankings.

Danilovic is around #107 in the live rankings.



Carle's continued spring run allowed her to reach the 3rd Round in Madrid in her 1000 MD debut, running her winning streak (all on clay) to eleven matches (over ITF, BJK, 125 and WTA play) with wins over Taylah Preston and Astra Sharma (in qualifying) and Emma Raducanu and Veronika Kudermetova (in the MD) before a loss to Alona Ostapenko.

The 24-year old Argentine has made her Top 100 debut this season (current #82) while grabbing singles titles in 125 and $75K tournaments.
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VETERANS: Sloane Stephens/USA and Ons Jabeur/TUN
...Stephens didn't roll out of her Rouen title run and into the second week in Madrid, but arrived on site and with little prep in the very different conditions and still outlasted Martina Trevisan in 3:16 in her opening match, then rallied from a set down to defeat Elise Mertens, extending her career-best clay court winning streak to seven (topping her six-win RG final run in '18).



Stephens fell in the 3rd Round to Maria Sakkari, but her result is her best in a clay court 1000 event since 2019 (Madrid SF) after having had 2r-1r-1r results in the event in her last three appearances. Already in '24, Stephens has won her first title in two years, and reached the AO 3rd Round for the first time in five (after four straight 1r exits).

Looking ahead, Stephens has had a similar recent lack of success in Rome, with five consecutive 1r/2r losses. In Paris, though, she's tracked differently, with RU-QF-2r-4r-QF-4r results since she won the U.S. Open in '17.



Meanwhile, Jabeur continues to round into shape just in time to take her shots in Paris and London. Still alive in the second week in Madrid, she's put up wins over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Leylah Fernandez in a pair of three-setters, posting her first multi-win event of 2024. In fact, Jabeur is now 3-0 in her last three matches to go the distance.

Jabeur was the 2022 Madrid champ.


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COMEBACKS: Sara Sorribes Tormo/ESP and Mayar Sherif/EGY
...Sorribes Tormo is seemingly always up for a good marathon match, but so far in '24 she's only added one three-hour contest (which she lost) to the ongoing WTA season list. The Spaniard played in the longest tour-level MD match (3:51, RG 4r) a season ago, in '22 had the first (3:54) and fourth-longest (3:33) matches, and in '21 the second-longest (3:51).

The first week in Madrid didn't see Sorribes Tormo play any three-hour matches, nor even a three-setter. But her three consecutive straight sets victories -- over Bernarda Pera, Elina Svitolina and Victoria Azarenka -- are a great rebound after she lost her first four matches of '24, had another four-match losing streak, and came into this week at 3-10 and having been ranked outside the Top 40 since August 2022 (she's the current #55).

Sorribes Tormo reached the QF in Madrid in her last MD appearance two years ago.



Meanwhile, despite a nice recent stint in BJK Cup play (4-1), Sherif came into Madrid at 0-5 this season in WTA events. After posting her best career 1000 result with a QF run there a year ago, she barely escaped the 1st Round this week after trailing Lauren Davis 6-4/5-3. But she rallied to down the Bannerette, then followed up with an even bigger win over Stuttgart finalist Marta Kostyuk. She lost to Elena Rybakina in straights a round later, but who's going to hold that against her?


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FRESH FACES: Sara Bejlek/CZE and Robin Montgomery/USA
...here comes another Crusher!

18-year old Bejlek qualified in Madrid to make her 1000 MD debut, and so far she's taken full advantage of it.

The Czech collected the two biggest wins of her career in the opening rounds, taking out a pair of Hordette Annas -- Blinkova and Kalinskaya -- then reaching the second week with a 3rd Round win over Ashlyn Krueger to set up a first-time match-up vs. Elena Rybakina.

Bejlek's five-win week (2 Q, 3 MD) comes after she'd gone just 3-5 since her AO qualifying run, but she's already climbed nearly 30 spots in the rankings this week from her #136 starting point, assuring herself of a new career high standing no matter what happens next.



Washington, D.C. native Montgomery may have had a revelatory week in Madrid, as the 19-year old former junior champ ('21 U.S. Open girls' s/d sweep) reached her maiden 1000 3rd Round with wins over Elina Avanesyan and Katie Boulter, then showed no nerves (until her lack of experience finally got the best of her late) vs. world #2 Aryna Sabalenka, winning a 2nd set TB to force a 3rd vs. the reigning Madrid champion and hanging close until the Belarusian broke to end the match with a 6-4 set win.

Ranked at #183 heading into the week, Montgomery has put on qualifying runs in Indian Wells and Rouen this year, going a combined 16-8.


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DOWN: Peyton Stearns/USA, Sofia Kenin/USA and Alycia Parks/USA
...there have been some big moves by Bannerettes early in '24, from the likes of Navarro and Townsend to Kessler and Volynets (plus, of course, veterans Stephens and Collins). But the other side of the coin are players like these.

Stearns' inability to get over the three-set hump continued in Madrid, as she lost her sixth straight three-setter (vs. Tatjana Maria) to fall to 1-9 in such matches on the year (3-10 overall). Her ranking has fallen from Top 50 in January to around a live #83.

Last fall, Kenin looked primed for a comeback, reaching the San Diego final and Guadalajara semis in back-to-back weeks, getting wins over Ostapenko, Fernandez, Kalinina, Kudermetova, Navarro and Potapova. Since then she's gone 2-14, including 1-10 in '24. Her 3 & 4 loss to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in Madrid was her ninth straight. After having ended the '23 season at #33, Kenin is at around #60.

Early last year, Parks starred in a maiden title run in Lyon, only to go 18-38 in the year-plus since. Her Madrid Q1 6-1/6-1 loss to Renata Zarazua drops her to 2-11 on the season, with ten consecutive defeats. #40 last August, Parks in now outside the Top 130.
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ITF PLAYERS: Jana Fett/CRO and Maddison Inglis/AUS
...Fett has put together quite a nice six-month run, reaching her biggest career final at a 125 last November, winning a $75K earlier this month, and this week claiming her biggest career crown at the $100K in Oeiras.

The Croatian ran off wins over Tena Lukas, Polona Hercog, Irina Maria Bara, Yulia Starodubtseva and Panna Udvardy in a 6-0/6-2 final, improving to 17-7 on the year (and 25-4 back to last fall, winning in three of five singles finals since August).



In Tokyo, Inglis won her biggest career title in the week's other $100K challenger, getting wins over Lily Miyazaki, Kimberly Birrell and Ena Shibahara in a 6-4/3-6/6-2 final, thwarting the Japanese (usually) doubles specialist's quest to claim a big prize for what would have been just her second career pro singles title (the first came in February).

Inglis, 26, has won eight career ITF titles, two this season.


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JUNIOR STARS: Wakana Sonobe/JPN and Kristina Penickova/USA
...at the Offenbach (GER) J500 event, Sonobe grabbed the biggest title of her junior career, topping the two J300 events she won last year. The 16-year old (jr. #17) from Japan posted wins over Jeline Vandromme and Alena Kovackova en route to the final, then topped Teodora Kostovic when the Serb retired down 6-3/3-1.

Last December, in one of her J300 wins, Sonobe put on an even more impressive run in the Eddie Herr championships, taking down the likes of Tyra Caterina Grant, Laura Samson, Rositsa Dencheva, Valerie Glozman and Vandromme over the course of a week.

14-year old Penickova, one half of a twin combo with sister Annika, claimed her biggest career title at the J300 Sarawak Cup in Kuching, Malaysia, allowing as many as three games in a set just twice over five matches.

Top seeded Penickova defeated Japan's Kanon Sawashiro (#13), who'd earlier defeated the #2 seed, by a 6-2/6-0 score in the final.
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[Madrid 1st-3rd Rd.]



1. Madrid 1st Rd. - Wang Xinyu def. Viktoria Tomova
...5-7/7-5/6-4. Comeback of the season (as Wang saves *10* MP)? It'll at least be in the discussion.

Tomova rallied from 5-3 down to win the 1st, and led 7-5/5-2, holding three MP on Wang's serve. She held seven *more* MP at 5-3.

After failing to take the match, Tomova immediately fell behind 0-4 in the 3rd. She recovered to make the scoreline respectable, but it wasn't enough to avoid a squandered victory.


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2. Madrid 1st Rd. - Olga Danilovic def. Clara Burel
...3-6/7-6(8)/6-4. Every once in a while, Danilovic flashes before slipping back into the field, leaving everyone to wonder where (and why) she went.

The qualifier did it again here, coming back from 6-3/4-0, and 5-2, to get the win. Burel served for the match and held 4 MP (1 serving at 5-3, 3 in the TB), but the Serb took a 10-8 TB and then won in three.
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3. Madrid 2nd Rd. - Danielle Collins def. Olga Danilovic
...4-6/6-4/7-6(8). Collins takes her (late night) show to Europe, winning her 14th consecutive match in a contest that carried half past midnight.

Danilovic broke and served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd, but Collins was having none of it. She got the match-extending break, then took things to a deciding TB, where she raced to a 6-3 lead and finally put away the Serb -- through the rain -- on her sixth MP.



Collins came back from a set down to defeat Jaqueline Cristian in the 3rd Round, taking her streak to 15 matches and posting her best 1000 result (4r and counting) on clay courts. She reached the RG QF in 2020.
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4. Madrid 1st Rd. - Tatjana Maria def. Peyton Stearns
...6-7(4)/6-2/7-6(5). Some news out of this one was that Thomas Hill, ex-coach of Maria Sakkari, seems to have become a new fixture in Stearns' box.

Also, Tennis Channel's overlords major sponsor Fan Duel, as noted on air, showed the odds changed dramatically in Stearns' favor once the 3rd set began, an odd thing considering she came into the match having lost five straight three-setters (something the TC announcers didn't mention until the Bannerette was up 6-5, even after having had an earlier discussion about the "habit" of winning or losing that players can find themselves in) and gone 1-8 in such matches on the season.

As it turned out, Stearns (who'd won the 1st after trailing 4-1 and 5-3) led 3-0, love/30 on Maria's serve in the deciding set (and 5-4, love/30 again on return), but could never reclaim her break edge, and lost a 7-5 TB.

So, if anyone used Fan Duel's great knowledge of the situation to make a mid-match bet in Stearns' favor, I hope they enjoyed their money while they had it.
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5. Madrid 1st Rd. - Alex Eala def. Lesia Tsurenko
...2-6/6-4/6-4. The lone ranked player from the Philippines in professional tennis, 18-year old Eala (#170) notches her first 1000 MD win, and just the second overall of her WTA career (the last came in Cluj in 2020). #41 Tsurenko represents Eala's first career Top 50 victory.


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6. Madrid 1st Rd. - Wang Xiyu def. Ana Bogdan
...6-7(5)/7-6(4)/6-2. Bogdan returns from her big weekend in BJK Cup play two weeks ago, when she ended her five-match losing streak with a win over Elina Svitolina and then joined Jaqueline Cristian in winning the doubles to pull off a rare Cup comeback from 0-2 down vs. UKR.

Unfortuanately, the Romanian's return saw her revert to her previous form/luck. She won the 1st set after trailing 5-1, only to fail to convert a MP at 5-4 and then lose a 2nd set TB and then immediately fall behind 0-4 in the 3rd.

This is Bogdan's second match loss this season after holding MP.
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7. Madrid 1st Rd. - Emiliana Arango def. Amanda Anisimova
...1-6/6-4/7-6(2). Anisimova rallies from 3-1 back in the 3rd, but can't close out the victory. She led Arango 5-3, and had two chances (at 5-4 and 6-5) to serve things out.


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8. Madrid 1st Rd. - Jessica Bouzas Maneiro def. Paula Badosa
...2-6/6-3/6-3. Bouzas Maneiro finally notches a big stage win as well as her first at the WTA MD level, taking out countrywoman Badosa on Spanish clay in her first 1000 MD match.

The qualifier's run ended a round later vs. Alona Ostapenko, but she's now safely ranked in the Top 100, has picked up three singles titles this season (a 125, $75K and $50K) and is 30-8 overall (13-3 on clay).
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9. Madrid 1st Rd. - Sara Errani def. Caroline Wozniacki
...3-6/7-5/7-5. And if your Bingo card said we'd get a Wozniacki-vs.-Errani match in *2024*, you might have just won something.

Errani wins the battle of veterans (36 vs. 33), who first played all the way back in 2007. The Italian's last win over the Dane was *16* years ago.


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10. Madrid 2nd Rd. - Dasha Kasatkina def. Cristina Bucsa
...5-7/7-6(5)/6-3. With neither being able to hold serve often in the match, both women traded off big leads. Bucsa rallied from 5-1 down in the 1st (Kasatkina twice served for the set), while Kasatkina did the same after trailing 5-2 in the 2nd (Bucsa served for the match at 5-2).

In the end, there were 20 combined breaks of serve in 33 service games, with 20 of 26 BP converted.


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11. Madrid 1st Rd. - Sloane Stephens def. Martina Trevisan
...6-3/5-7/6-4. Still jetlagged, and with only one hour of court time with which to make the transition to Madrid from her indoor title run in Rouen, Stephens takens a 6-3/5-3 lead and holds three MP in the 2nd. Trevisan battles back to force a 3rd, but Stephens comes along with her and wins in 3:16 to tie her career-best clay winning streak (6 matches).

Plus, her mom packed hand-warmers!



Again, the WTA is just a better place when Sloane is winning.
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12. Madrid Q1 - Laura Siegemund def. Tyra Caterina Grant
...4-6/6-2/6-2. In true tennis tradition, a 36-year old faced off with a 16-year old.

Siegemund was coming off a three-set loss to Marta Kostyuk in the 1st Round in the Stuttgart 500 event, while last weekend Grant had picked up a J300 title on the junior circuit.
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13. Madrid 1st Rd. - Shelby Rogers def. Zhang Shuai
...6-3/6-2. Make it 0-20 in her last 20 singles matches for Zhang.
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14. Madrid 1st Rd. - Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva def. Zhu Lin
...6-4/6-3. The 18-year old, the 2020 AO junior champ, picks up her first career 1000 MD win vs.

It was fun while it lasted. The Andorran posted just one game vs. Jasmine Paolini in the 2nd Round.


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15. Madrid Q1 - Rebecca Sramkova def. Clara Tauson
...7-6(6)/0-0 ret. Sigh. Thankfully, it looks like the Dane was just tired after two long weeks in Oeiras...


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16. Madrid 1st Rd. - Sara Bejlek def. Anna Blinkova
...4-6/6-3/6-3. Blinkova falls to 7-10 on the year. Yet she has wins over Rybakina (3-time '24 champ), Pliskova (1 titles), Pegula (3 semis), and Yastremska (AO semifinalist), who came into the week a combined 65-25.
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17. Madrid 1st Rd. - Caroline Dolehide/Desirae Krawczyk def. Donna Vekic/Elena Vesnina
...6-2/6-1. Vesnina finally makes her '24 comeback debut, as the 37-year old Hordette plays in her first match since the Tokyo Olympics in summer '21.

Things didn't go her way, but remember that Vesnina still stands just an AO title away from a Career WD Super Slam (all four majors, the WTAF and Olympic Gold).

After so many were saying last week that Garbine Muguruza (2 slam wins and a former #1) was a "sure-thing" Hall of Famer (personally, I'm not so sure about that), what does that make Vesnina, a four-time WD/MX slam champ, Olympic Gold ('16 WD w/ Ekaterina Makarova the Original) & Silver ('21 MX w/ Audrey Rublev) medalist, singles slam semifinalist, multiple Fed Cup champ and doubles #1?


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18. $50K Wuning CHN Final - Wang Qiang def. Lanlana Tararudee
...1-6/6-3/4-3 ret. In her fourth event back after sitting out since September 2022 (she also missed time after a one-match, short-lived return in January, not returning until earlier this month), former world #12 Wang picks up her first singles title since her career-best Asian swing at tour-level in 2018.

With her '24 ledger producing progressively better 1r-QF-SF-W results, Wang will climb significantly from her current #827. With the next rankings a week away, she's just outside the Top 600 in the live standings.
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19. $15K Telde ESP Final - Renata Jamrichova def. Maria Garcia Cid
...6-3/6-7(4)/6-2. Despite a combined 86 DF (!!) in the tournament, Jamrichova pulls off her second '24 pro title run, improving to 12-1 in her last 13 over ITF and BJK competition.

The 16-year old Slovak, the current junior #1, won the AO girls' singles crown in January.
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20. $75K Charlottesville USA Final - Louisa Chirico def. Kayla Day
...6-1/7-5. A one-time shocking Madrid semifinalist at age 19 back in 2016, Chirico claims her sixth career challenger title, and second in Charlottesville in the last three years.

Chirico got additional wins over Valentini Grammatikopoulou (QF) and Maya Joint (SF). She'd gone 2-9 since mid-January, and is at a live #228 (she was as high as #58 eight years ago).
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1. $100K Oeiras POR Final - Francisca Jorge/Matilde Jorge def. Yana Sizikova/Wu Fang-hsien
...6-2/6-0. A week after claiming their biggest career title in the 125 event in Oeiras, the Jorge sisters stay on home clay and win their *second*-biggest title.

They were the runners-up in the event last year.


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2. Madrid 1st Rd. - Irina-Camelia Begu def. Linda Fruhvirtova 6-4/7-6(0)
Madrid 1st Rd. - Arantxa Rus def. Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-2/6-4
...Linda was historically the first of the Czech Crusher generation to lift a tour title (Chennai '22), climbing inside the Top 50 last June. But she's now barely holding in the Top 150, ranked behind the likes of Linda Noskova (Top 30), her sister Brenda (8-4 on the year, and likely inside the Top 100 after Madrid) and Sara Bejlek (approx. #130).

Linda is 8-13 in '24.
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3. Madrid 1st Rd. - Mayar Sherif def. Lauren Davis
...4-6/7-6(4)/6-4. Sherif had a good run in BJK Cup play two weeks ago, but before this win had been 0-5 on tour in '24.

To get her first win she had to stage a comeback from 6-4/5-3. Davis served for the match at 5-3, and saved a pair of BP at 5-5 as the 2nd went into a TB. Sherif won 7-4, then took the 3rd.
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Ommmm... manifesting into reality that Petra's babe will be named "Pojd"... Ommmm.


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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









Hmm, I wonder if he's going over some tactical changes to enact should Iga face a big-hitt--... yeah, probably not.
















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*LONG WTA (MD only) WINNING STREAKS - 2020s*
37 - Iga Swiatek (2022)
18 - Iga Swiatek (2023-24)
17 - Simona Halep (2020)
16 - Coco Gauff (2023)
15 - DANIELLE COLLINS (2024)
13 - Liudmila Samsonova (2022)
13 - Bernarda Pera (2022)
13 - Aryna Sabalenka (2023)
13 - Elena Rybakina (2023)

*ESP - ROUND OF 16+ IN MADRID*
2010 Anabel Medina Garrigues
2010 Arantxa Parra Santonja
2011 Arantxa Parra Santonja
2012 Anabel Medina Garrigues
2013 Anabel Medina Garrigues (QF)
2014 Carla Suarez Navarro
2015 Carla Suarez Navarro (QF)
2016 Carla Suarez Navarro
2017 Carla Suarez Navarro
2017 Lara Arruabarrena
2018 Garbine Muguruza
2018 Carla Suarez Navarro (QF)
2021 Paula Badosa (SF)
2022 Sara Sorribes Tormo (QF)
2023 Paula Badosa
2024 Sara Sorribes Tormo (in 4th Rd.)






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All for now.
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