Sealed with a kiss /Defending champion on march again in Madrid

Defending champion Petra Kvitova blows a kiss to the crowd after beating Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 7-6 (5) to reach the third round of the Madrid Open yesterday.

The second-seeded Czech won the last three points in the tie-breaker to close out the match after nearly two hours.

Kvitova, seeking her fourth Madrid Open title, was in control until losing her serve midway through the second set, allowing the French qualifier Mladenovic back into the match.

Kvitova had seven aces on centre court en route to her eighth-straight win in Madrid. She is the most successful women’s player in the tournament with 28 wins and six defeats. Her other titles in the Spanish capital came in 2011 and 2015. Mladenovic was runner-up in Madrid in 2017.

Kvitova will next face wild card Sorana Cirstea or former world No 4 Caroline Garcia.

In other second-round matches, American Sloane Stephens recorded her fourth successive win over the former world No 1, Victoria Azarenka, to advance to the round of 16. The 26-year-old world No 8 was broken twice as Azarenka, now ranked 52, took the match to a deciding set.

Belarusian Azarenka, 29, spurned two break points at 1-1 and Stephens won 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in two hours, six minutes. Stephens will face either China’s Zheng Saisai and Alize Cornet, of France.

Seventh seed Kiki Bertens and 12th-ranked Anastasija Sevastova recorded straight-set victories over Jelena Ostapenko and Mihaela Buzarnescu respectively.

In the men’s doubles, Britain’s Kyle Edmund, who plays tenth seed Fabio Fognini in the singles today, teamed up with Liverpudlian Neal Skupski to beat French pair Jeremy Chardy and Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3.

Britain’s Dom Inglot, partnering India’s Rohan Bopanna, lost to Joao Sousa of Portugal and Argentine Guido Pella, while Joe Salisbury, petnering American Rajeev Ram, also went out, losing the deciding set 11-9 against Argentine duo Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos.