Lucky loser Saville wins through to second round as sole Australian in women’s draw in Madrid

Daria Saville once again stands alone as the only Australian woman in the Madrid Open singles main draw this week.

The ATP clay court side of the tournament features seven Australians, including top seeds Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson, who advanced to the second round.

Thanasi Kokkinakis, Aleksandar Vukic and Alexei Popyrin lost in the first round, while Christopher O’Connell and Max Purcell are yet to start their tournaments.

Meanwhile, Saville remains the only Australian in the top 100 of the WTA rankings.

After falling to Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian in the second qualifying round, Saville came into the main draw in Madrid as a lucky loser after several withdrawals.

In the first round she defeated American Hailey Baptiste 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in a two-hour, 20-minute effort to reach a second-round clash with 2021 French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

It is the third consecutive main draw in a WTA 1000 event for Saville and the second, after Indian Wells in California, where she has been the only Australian in the women’s draw.

Storm Hunter competed alongside her in Miami and qualified solo for Dubai, although neither woman made it past the second round in either event. (Hunter reached the third round of the Australian Open as a qualifier.)

There is one more 1,000 test in Rome between Madrid and Roland Garros, where Saville reached the third round in 2018 and 2022.

The 30-year-old, who jumped from No. 96 to No. 86 in the live WTA rankings with her victory over Baptiste, hopes to score another hit in Rome from May 7-19 before the French Open begins a week later .

The Italian event will bring back fond memories for Hunter, who will look to defend the doubles title she won with Elise Mertens in 2023.