Moyuka Uchijima of Japan grabbed her first win over a Top 10 player on Sunday, upsetting No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2 at the Madrid Open in Spain.
The 23-year-old Uchijima entered the match with an 0-6 record against the Top 10 players but managed to defeat Pegula in just 80 minutes. It also was her first win over a Top 25 player, and she now stands 1-10 in that category.
Also posting an upset was Maria Sakkari of Greece, who topped No. 6 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-2, 6-1 in 79 minutes and joins Uchijima in the fourth round.
Pegula entered the match with seven wins in eight clay-court matches this season, including a victory at the Charleston Open earlier this month. But Uchijima, after falling behind by a break early in the first set, took control after converting two of her five break points on the day. And in the second set, Uchijima jumped to a 4-0 lead to cruise to the win.
It was the first career match between the two.
Uchijima will move on to face Russian No. 21 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated No. 14 seed Daria Kasatkina of Australia 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Paolini, a finalist on the clay courts at the French Open last year, couldn’t get any momentum going against Sakkari. The Greek, a former Top 10 player, won six of her seven service games while Paolini won just two of eight games on her serve. Paolini was vying to reach the fourth round of a fifth consecutive WTA 1000 event.
Sakkari will move to face another upset winner, No. 17 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who ousted No. 10 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4.
No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus needed three sets to defeat Elise Mertens of Belgium, the No. 28 seed, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 after a slow start.
It was Sabalenka’s ninth consecutive win over Mertens and came after the Belgian broke her serve three times in the first set.
“I was trying to find the rhythm on my serve,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “The moment I started focusing on the timing, on not rushing the ball, on not overhitting, things really clicked.”
In the first set, Sabalenka committed 14 unforced errors — the same number she had combined in the next two sets. Mertens committed eight double faults in the second and third sets.
In the next round, Sabalenka will meet Peyton Stearns, who knocked out Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland 6-2, 6-0 in just over an hour.
Also advancing was Anastasia Potapova of Russia, who knocked out No. 32 Sofia Kenin 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6). She will play Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, a 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 winner over Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova.
–Field Level Media
