Gauff, Swiatek survive early scares at Madrid Open to reach third round

Title contenders Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek were both pushed to the brink in their opening matches at the 2025 Madrid Open, but each rallied from a set down to keep their campaigns alive and reach the third round.

For Gauff, the comeback was particularly dramatic. Entering as a -384.62 favorite at Nags.bet against world No.46 Dayana Yastremska, the American was shell-shocked early, failing to win a single game in the opening set.

But the world No.3 found her groove just in time, flipping the match on its head to take the next two sets 6-2, 7-5 and seal the win in two hours and 22 minutes.

Gauff’s odds have shortened slightly across tennis betting sites, now priced at +1100 to win the Madrid title — behind only Iga Swiatek (+250), Aryna Sabalenka (+300) and rising teen Mirra Andreeva (+650).

Swiatek was similarly slow to start in her match against Alexandra Eala, who had stunned the world No.1 in Miami just weeks earlier.

Down a set and a break (4-6, 2-3), the Pole broke back and went on a tear, winning five straight games to take the second set and control 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.
“From the beginning I didn’t play smoothly, but I managed to solve some problems, and at the end I won.”

The final scoreline read 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and Swiatek now moves on to face Linda Noskova in the third round — a player she holds a 4-1 head-to-head advantage over.

Tennis bookies have her priced at -400 to win that match and continue her pursuit of a first title since May 2024.

Despite the recent drought, Swiatek remains the outright favorite to win next month’s French Open, holding firm at +100 across top online sportsbooks.

“I know that I’m close to finding my nice rhythm,” Swiatek said after her comeback win.

“For sure, 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 focus only on the next point and that’s it.”

With both Gauff and Swiatek surviving early scares, the Madrid draw remains stacked heading into the weekend — but the margins are clearly getting tighter for the tournament’s top seeds.

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