The world number one, who was playing her first match since she completed the “Sunshine Double” by winning Indian Wells and Miami last month, committed 26 unforced errors in her 7-5, 6-3 win over American Peyton Stearns in the second round in the Spanish capital.
The defending champion, in search of a fourth career title at the Caja Magica, converted four of 12 break points against Stearns, double-faulted five times, and dropped serve twice, before she made it over the finish line to set up a third-round meeting with Romanian Jaqueline Cristian.
“I’m super happy to start with a win, even though maybe the tennis wasn’t that good, but I felt like with every game I was playing, the better I was playing, so I really hope in the next one I bring a better performance,” said Sabalenka, who has won 24 of her 25 matches so far in 2026.
Earlier in Manolo Santana Stadium, Iga Swiatek made quick work of her opening test in Madrid, breezing past Daria Snigur 6-1, 6-2.
The Polish fourth seed needed just 61 minutes to move past Snigur, who was coming off the first tour-level main draw victory of her career on clay over Daria Kasatkina.
The Ukrainian qualifier saved four match points against Kasatkina on Wednesday, and secured the win by clinching the longest first-to-seven tiebreak at tour-level in eight years with a 15-13 scoreline.
Snigur had little fight left in her for her clash with Swiatek, who barring a brief blip early in the second set was in fierce form as she continues her quest for a first clay-court title since she claimed a fourth Roland Garros crown nearly two years ago.
“I’m very happy. Madrid is a special place to play, because of how special the tournament is, but also because of the conditions, so I’m happy that I adjusted well to them and was solid and just playing my game,” said Swiatek, who is contesting her second tournament under the guidance of her new coach Francis Roig.
The 2024 Madrid champion will next face 31st-seeded American Ann Li in round three.
Meanwhile, Hungarian world number 63 Anna Bondar upset seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 to claim the first top-10 victory of her career.
Ex-world number one Naomi Osaka began her clay-court campaign with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Colombia’s Camila Osorio. She’ll play Ukrainian qualifier Anhelina Kalinina for a spot in the last 16. (AFP)
