Tatjana Maria comes back to defeat Peyton Stearns in Madrid

Field Level Media|published: Tue 23rd April, 15:53 2024

May 31, 2023; Paris,France; Peyton Stearns (USA) returns a shot during her match against Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) on day four at Stade Roland-Garros. credits: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Germany's Tatjana Maria rallied from a set down to defeat Peyton Stearns 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (5) in first-round action Tuesday at the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain.

Stearns fell behind 5-3 in the first set, but used a service break to get back on serve and eventually won a tiebreaker to take the lead in the two-hour, 48-minute match. She couldn't maintain the momentum in the second set, with Maria registering three of her six service breaks.

In the deciding set, Stearns broke Maria's serve in the second game before going up up 3-0, but two games later, Maria broke back without Stearns scoring a point. The two battled to a tiebreaker, with Stearns dropping her serve on match point.

"It was a fight from the first point," Maria told the Tennis Channel. "I started pretty well in the first set. At the end she started to be more aggressive, and she won the first set, but I just kept going.

"I mean, I told myself I feel good on the court. I tried to keep going to be aggressive, to do a little bit more, and, yeah, in the second set, it was like a really tough because I was 3-0 down. I came back to 3-2, 3-all and then the tie-breaker. I was nervous but super close, and I'm happy that I won."

Wild-card Alexandra Eala of the Philippines pulled of the biggest upset of the day. Ranked No. 170 in the world, Eala defeated No. 41 Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours, 23 minutes.

The day's slate was limited to just eight matches.

In other action, Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova defeated Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-4, with China's Xiyu Wang eliminating Romanian Ana Bogdan 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-2 in marathon that lasted nearly 3 1/2 hours.

Also victorious was Anastasia Potapova, who topped fellow Russian Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-4. Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu defeated Czech Linda Fruhvirtova 6-4, 7-6 (0), with Arantxa Rus of Russia a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Brenda Fruhvirtova.

Argentina's Nadia Podoroska defeated another Czech, Katerina Siniakova, 6-2, 7-6 (2).

—Field Level Media