PREVIEW | Madrid Open 2025 Day Three ATP and WTA as Mirra Andreeva, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff start campaigns

It is Day Three of the 2025 Madrid Open as the first round continues in the ATP tournament and the big names come into the fray in the WTA edition including Mirra Andreeva, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek. Our preview looks ahead to the action today.

Mirra Andreeva will be second on Manolo Santana on Thursday. This tournament holds a lot of significance for the Russian who arrived as a spritely 15-year-old saying that Andy Murray was beautiful two years ago.

Fast forward she is about to turn 18 doing so during the second week of the tournament and is a top 10 star. She also won back-to-back WTA 1000 tournaments earlier this Spring so has fully emerged.

She opens up against Marie Bouzkova after a tough start to her clay-court season. She won against sister Erika Andreeva during her Stuttgart opener but went on to be well beaten by Ekaterina Alexandrova who was one of the leading stars of the week in Germany.

So perhaps not a huge gauge but would've been a tie Andreeva would've expected to win. But the focus shifts to outdoors and given she is a Roland Garros semi-finalist, Andreeva should be able to bring her previous form onto clay. She has only played Bouzkova once and won that tie 6-3, 6-3 at the Australian Open in January.

Then it is the turn of Iga Swiatek who will look to hand out a revenge mission and gain some confidence in the process after a tough week which saw her lose out to Jelena Ostapenko again at the Stuttgart Open.

Ostapenko could yet face her nemesis again in Madrid in the fourth round in the sporting equivalent of a cruel joke as her draw is mainly players who have beaten her last in their Head to Head's including Eala.

Eala famously took her down at the Miami Open last month in what was her standout result. This match could go one of two ways and could see Swiatek brush her aside or Eala cause her issues. The latter mainly due to the fact that the Filipino technically grew up on clay.

She has lived in Spain since she was a child due to taking part in the Rafael Nadal Academy so in reality she should be even better on the surface. But facing the Queen of Clay is a different matter.

Then onto Joao Fonseca who takes fans with him wherever he goes. He faces the Danish qualifier Elmer Moller in the first round and will no doubt have a packed house to watch him as fans look to take a glimpse before he rises to the top potentially.

Coco Gauff has had a pretty torrid time as of late and Stuttgart was evidence as she lost to Jasmine Paolini quite comfortably in the end.

Since winning the WTA Finals heading into winter, the improvements that Gauff has made aren't paying dividends as of right now. But clay is a surface she likes so it is quickly redeemable. Also as Alexandrova proved in Stuttgart, the indoor clay is a different beast so more of a gauge is today against Yastremska.

Gauff has seen off Yastremska twice winning both in 2024 against the Ukrainian at the French Open 6-2, 6-4 in May. She also beat her in Madrid 6-4, 6-1 last April.

Elsewhere Belinda Bencic was in superb form yesterday winning through her opener in double quick time which she later confirmed was due to the fact that her daughter Bella was turning one so they were having a party.

It is a tougher task in the second round for the Swiss ace as she faces Clara Tauson, one of the most formidable opponents on the WTA Tour right now. Madison Keys also begins her quest against Lucia Bronzetti who earlier this week made history as the player with the most wins in 2025 against current or former World No.1's. She won't add to that tally here but Keys hasn't been in the best form since winning the Australian Open so in reality it could be a shock on the cards.

Elsewhere Emma Navarro faces rising Aussie Maya Joint in one of the top ties on the outside courts. Same can be said for a run elsewhere which sees Diana Shnaider look to finally return to form after a dismal year. She faces Katie Volynets.

Jelena Ostapenko also aims to go one step closer to that famous clash with iga Swiatek again when she faces compatriot Anastasija Sevastova. Before Leylah Fernandez ends off against Ann Li.

Karolina Muchova, Anna Kalinskaya and a clash between Botic van de Zandschulp and Jan-Lennard Struff also headline elsewhere in what is a stacked day on the WTA side, less so ATP but that will come on Friday.