Swiatek & Gauff through to Round 3 after tough Madrid Open starts

Title contenders Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek survived scares at the 2025 Madrid Open in Spain on Thursday, with both dropping the first set of their opening matches before fighting back to make the third round.

Gauff in particular executed a remarkable comeback against Dayana Yastremska.

The American paid just $1.26 to beat the world No.46 pre-match at BetOnline but was unable to win a game in the first set.

She found her range just in time, however, powering through the next two sets 6-2, 7-5 to win in two hours and 22 minutes.

Tennis betting sites have shortened her title odds slightly off the back of the victory, pricing Gauff at $12 behind Swiatek ($3.50), Aryna Sabalenka ($4) and Mirra Andreeva ($7.50).

For Swiatek, she was made to come back from a set and a break down against Alexandra Eala, in what was a rematch of their Miami clash last month where the Filipino teen prevailed.

Down 6-4, 3-2, the Pole broke back before reeling off five straight games to close out the second and get ahead in the third.

“It wasn’t easy to get into the rhythm and feel the right timing, so I’m happy that I was just patient,” Swiatek said afterwards.

“From the beginning I didn’t play smoothly, but I managed to solve some problems, and at the end I won.”

She eventually finished the match off 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, booking a third-round clash against Linda Noskova.

Tennis bookies have the second set priced at $1.25 to get past Noskova, against whom she has a 4-1 head-to-head.

Swiatek’s odds to win the 2025 French Open next month remain firm at $2 across leading bookmakers, despite the Pole approaching one year without a title.

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After her win over Eala, she addressed her current form.

“I know that I’m close to finding my nice rhythm,” she said.

“For sure, like I feel like I was close in Stuttgart.

“Here I came, you know, I also had some other stuff going on.

“So I’m just going to try to like focus only on the next point and that’s it.”

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