Thursday tennis acca tips: Iga Swiatek to bounce back with another clay court win

Iga Swiatek will have to put the end of another long streak behind her as she seeks to win the Madrid Open for the first time.

Swiatek has reached the final in the Spanish capital before but hasn't gone all the way on the Madrid clay.

She starts her campaign against unfancied Chinese player Xiyu Wang.

Here we make a handful of picks for the Madrid Open as the first and second rounds continue on Thursday.

 

ATP Madrid: Tomas Machac vs Emil Ruusuvuori | Pick: Machac

ATP Madrid: Yannick Hanfmann vs Jakub Mensik | Pick: Mensik

ATP Madrid: Yoshihito Nishioka vs Felix Auger-Aliassime | Pick: Auger-Aliassime 

ATP Madrid: Zhizhen Zhang vs Miomir Kecmanovic | Pick: Kecmanovic

WTA Madrid: Alexandra Eala vs Sorana Cirstea | Pick: Cirstea

WTA Madrid: Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Ons Jabeur | Pick: Jabeur

WTA Madrid: Coco Gauff vs Arantxa Rus | Pick: Gauff

WTA Madrid: Iga Swiatek vs Xiyu Wang | Pick: Swiatek

 

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ATP Madrid: Tomas Machac vs Emil Ruusuvuori

Thomas Machac has a head-to-head win over Emil Ruusuvuori thanks to a triumph in qualifying for the Eerste Bank Open in Vienna last season but they have not met in a full ATP Tour match.

Both players have had success on the Challenge Tour and may yet bloom into bigger stars in the years to come.

Machac holds a minor rankings edge over Ruusuvuori and is closer to a career-high than the Finn.

Ruusuvuori has been out of action for a month and this is a tough match to come back to which could see his comeback cut short in the Madrid Open first round.

 

ATP Madrid: Yannick Hanfmann vs Jakub Mensik

On the surface, Yannick Hanfmann appears to hold all the cards when facing Jakub Mensik but the young Czech has made the better start to the current campaign.

Mensik lost a 2022 Challenger meeting against the German journeyman but was just 16 years old at the time.

Mensik is 18-7 in his win-loss ratio in 2024 against Hanfmann's modest 9-13 track record.

Disregard the head-to-head record here and pay attention to form in Mensik's first match on clay this season.

 

ATP Madrid: Yoshihito Nishioka vs Felix Auger-Aliassime

Yoshihito Nishioka first met Felix Auger-Aliassime nine years ago but hasn't beaten the Canadian since 2020.

Auger-Aliassime has come out on top in the last two meetings between the players and is level at 2-2 in their career head-to-head on the full ATP Tour.

There is little to pick between the players' records on clay this season with  Nishioka playing just three matches and Auger-Aliassime five.

The Canadian has shown a great all-court game in recent seasons and should be expecting victory here.

 

ATP Madrid: Zhizhen Zhang vs Miomir Kecmanovic

The only past meeting between Miomir Kecmanovic and Zhizhen Zhang was a Challenger Tour clash that the Serbian won in straight sets.

Kecmanovic should be confident enough of repeating that result even if his Chinese opponent has come on tremendously since that last meeting.

Neither player sports a a winning record this season with Zhang losing 11 of his 18 matches and Kecmanovic winning just nine in 21.

Kecmanovic should benefit from the match being played on clay but the players have very similar records on the surface overall and this could go to three sets.

 

WTA Madrid: Alexandra Eala vs Sorana Cirstea

No 27 seed Sorana Cirstea has threatened to reach her best level often in recent months and starts her Madrid campaign against a novel opponent.

Alexandra Eala has never taken on the Romanian in singles action and is ranked 140 places below Cirstea by the WTA Tour Rankings.

Eala upset Lesia Tsurenko in the opening round to book her place in the last 64.

Cirstea enjoyed a bye into the second round as one of the 32 seeded players for the WTA 1000 event.

 

WTA Madrid: Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs Ons Jabeur

Anna Schmiedlova might fancy her chances of getting the better of an out-of-sorts Ons Jabeur.

Jabeur may be a seed for the Madrid Open but she has lost five of her last six matches.

The upset is on the cards but Jabeur has great memories in Madrid and she might just find a spark.

Even if she doesn't achieve her best in this match, Jabeur could still have enough to win and reach the Round of 32.

 

WTA Madrid: Coco Gauff vs Arantxa Rus

Coco Gauff also has a tricky opener which once again shows how a seeding can be a curse disguised as a blessing.

Gauff gets her bye into the second round but faces a player who has already had her first taste of Madrid's clay and won on it.

Rus beat handy Czech prospect Brenda Fuhrvitova in her first match in Madrid.

Gauff hasn't seen action since her early loss in Stuttgart when she was defeated by Marta Kostyuk in the last 16.

 

WTA Madrid: Iga Swiatek vs Xiyu Wang

Iga Swiatek couldn't defend her Stuttgart title last week but in her run to the semi-finals proved that she should be too much for Xiyu Wang to handle in Madrid.

This will be the first clash between these two players but there is a huge difference in their rankings standing.

Swiatek is a world-class player on clay but bigger upsets have happened at WTA 1000 events.

It is unlikely that Wang will be able to do anything that would really surprise Swiatek.