While the Stuttgart Open continuing onto Easter Monday is the main story in the WTA as Jelena Ostapenko faces Aryna Sabalenka for the title, Iga Swiatek will be travelling to Madrid with a draw fate which is all too familiar.
Swiatek begins likely against rising Filipino upstart Alexandra Eala who picked up the biggest win of her career against the former World No.1 in Miami 6-2, 7-5 in the second round or it'll be Viktoriya Tomova.
Eala lives in Madrid with most of her life seeing her best based in the country through being in the Rafa Nadal Academy. But it then is likely Rebecca Sramkova or Linda Noskova who Swiatek has a 4-1 record against mostly after the Czech ace beat her at the Australian Open.
But it is a tie which happens a lot then if she manages to get through that the likely two favourites to face her out of the draw would be Jelena Ostapenko or Diana Shnaider. Petra Kvitova or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova could turn that on its head but it is likely to be the seeds.
Ostapenko has this 6-0 hoodoo but even Coco Gauff broke Swiatek's spell over her eventually. She will likely get another chance to break it though. Last year, it would've been Shnaider as big favourite to face Swiatek but it hasn't quite happened in the past four months and she has hired Dinara Safina as a coach.
Madison Keys or Emma Navarro then Gauff or Andreeva and finally likely Aryna Sabalenka in the final if she gets past the potential Ostapenko clash and finally snaps that streak. But even names like Noskova are continued foes as Swiatek no doubt will be thinking why me.
Or she will be thinking it is time to settle the score. She did have the opinion that she knows what it is needed and just couldn't make it stick in the third set in Stuttgart. They could meet as early as Round Four so we may soon see at the Caja Magica.
Iga Swiatek’s possible path to defending her Madrid title:
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 20, 2025
R1 - Bye
R2 - Eala / Tomova
R3 - Sramkova / Noskova
R4 - Ostapenko / Shnaider / Kvitova / Pavlyuchenkova
QF - Keys / Navarro / Kalinskaya / Vekic / Osaka
SF - Gauff / Andreeva / Muchova / Haddad Maia
F - Sabalenka… pic.twitter.com/ZHE39x69st
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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