The five Spanish women who participated in the preliminary phase of the WTA 1,000 of the Mutua Madrid Open, all under 23 years of age, fell to the first exchange and will not be, therefore, in the main draw of the Spanish tournament.
Aliona Bolsava, the oldest and the best ranked (105th), fought against the seed number 11 of the qualy, the American Bernarda Pera, but succumbed 6-4, 4-6 and 6-3. Marta Custic (19 and 782nd) could not with Montenegrin Danka Kovinic, who has been in good shape in recent weeks and won 6-3 and 6-2. Ane Mintegi (17th and 716th) was close to surprising a rival of the stature of the French Kristina Mladenovic, who suffered a lot to win 6-3, 5-7 and 7-6 (1). Eva Guerrero (21 and 233rd) lost against the experienced Japanese Misaki Doi (6-3 and 6-2) and Jessica Bouzas (18 and 640 th) forced the third set against Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, although she was defeated 7-5, 6-4 and 6-1.
What a great match!
🇫🇷 @KikiMladenovic saves a complicated debut against a sensational 🇪🇸 Ane Mintegi (63 57 76).#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/DCaOMV1Jbq
– #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 27, 2021
The rivals of the Spanish women were not easy, all of them seeded in qualifying and with better classification than them. Among the favorites were Cornet (4th), Kanepi (7th), Siniakova (8th), Van Uytvanck (9th), Watson (10th) and Rus (21st).