MADRID — We’re down to our final four at the Mutua Madrid Open.
In a tournament that’s been full of surprises, Mirra Andreeva takes on Hailey Baptiste to end the day session Thursday, while Marta Kostyuk encounters lucky loser Anastasia Potapova to close the night session at Estadio Manolo Santana. All four semifinalists are vying for their first appearance in a Madrid final on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.
Here’s everything to know about Thursday’s semifinals:
Order of play
Manolo Santana
1:00 p.m., ATP singles
NB 4:00 p.m., Andreeva vs. Baptiste
NB 8:00 p.m., ATP singles
NB 9:30 p.m., Kostyuk vs. Potapova
Andreeva vs. Baptiste preview
Head-to-Head: Andreeva leads 1-0
Last meeting: Andreeva 6-1, 6-3 at 2025 Wimbledon third round
There’s been some big upsets at the Madrid Open, but none more dramatic than Baptiste’s comeback against World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Winning 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6), Baptiste saved six match points en route to her first top five victory of her career.
As Baptiste said, this tournament has been a bit of a revenge tour. Her win over Sabalenka on Tuesday avenged a quarterfinal defeat in Miami last month, and on Thursday, she’ll face Andreeva who knocked her out of Wimbledon in their only prior meeting.
In Madrid, Baptiste has already made some notable marks, reaching the semifinals at a WTA 1000 for the first time in her career, and is now lowest ranked player to claim a comeback win on clay against the World No. 1 in the last 40 years. She’s already leveled her best mark at any tournament too, as she reached the semifinals in Abu Dhabi in February.
“Somebody else that I played before and lost to. A little bit of a revenge tour, I guess,” Baptiste said on facing Andreeva. “Looking to go out there and play my game again and get another win.”
As for Andreeva, she’s battled her way to her first Madrid semifinal, and in some ways has battled herself. After routine wins against Panna Udvardy and Dalma Galfi, she seemed on her way in the third set against Anna Bondar, leading 5-1 in the Round of 16. Then, Bondar staged a comeback, taking a 6-5 lead, and caused Andreeva to become extremely frustrated. That culminated in tears after match point despite Andreeva winning in the tiebreak.
But one night’s sleep later, Andreeva regrouped, saving set points against Leylah Fernandez to advance to the semifinals in straight sets.
“Today I just tried to turn things around and not let that happen again,” Andreeva said. “I felt like I did a better job today. Still, obviously at some points I was pretty emotional as well. But I do feel like it’s a tennis match, and sometimes obviously something can happen.
“The most important is how you handle it, and how you reset for the next point. I feel like today it was much better than yesterday.”
Reaching the semifinals in Madrid adds to the stellar start to the World No. 8’s clay season that began with a title in Linz and a semifinal run in Stuttgart the week after. Celebrating her 19th birthday on Wednesday, Andreeva is the youngest player to reach three consecutive quarterfinals at a single Tier I/WTA- 1000 event (2024-26 in Madrid) since Martina Hingis in Miami from 1997-99.
Kostyuk vs. Potapova preview
Head-to-Head: Tied 2-2
Last meeting: Kostyuk 6-3, 6-2 at 2025 Madrid Round of 16
The most recent meeting between these two came at La Caja Mágica, but instead of the fourth round, the stakes are much higher in the semifinals. For Kostyuk, reaching the semifinals solidifies her best performance at the event, and arguably, she’s looked the most dominant out of the four semifinalists.
Kostyuk has yet to drop a set en route to her second career WTA 1000 semifinal, and currently is on a streak of nine tour-level wins with the highlight of the stretch being her second career singles title in Rouen, France. Against Linda Noskova in the quarterfinals, she was excellent on the return, creating 18 break-point chances in the first set and won nearly 83% of Noskova’s second serve points (28-of-34), the highest conversion rate in any WTA 1000 match this season.
“It’s going to be an interesting match,” Kostyuk said. “I’m very excited to go out there and really explore and just enjoy the process of the match because I think at times it’s a roller coaster, but I think it’s the beauty of it. I’m excited for this, you know, to really just see how far I can go, what I can do.
“Maybe I’ve been lucky loser once in my life or something. I’ve never been lucky with these things, so I don’t know how it feels to be a lucky loser. She definitely made a good run out of it.”
As big as Baptiste’s upset was, Potapova’s 7-6 (8), 6-4 win over World No. 2 Elena Rybakina in the Round of 16 was just as grand. The victory was the newly-Austrian’s fourth career victory over a top 5 opponent.
The theme of Potapova’s run has been been “second chances.” After losing in the second round of qualifying, she’s the first lucky loser to reach the semifinal of a WTA 1000 event, and she had a second chance vs. Karolina Pliskova in the Round of 16. After the Czech saved three match points in the second set, she built momentum to take a 3-2 [40-15] lead on serve against Potapova in the third.
But Potapova rallied to get the break back, and won four consecutive games to continue her miracle run that all began on 35 minutes notice to take Madison Keys’ spot in the draw.
“I do think it’s a miracle,” Potapova said after defeating Pliskova Wednesday. “It’s pretty rare when you get the second chance and that you go almost all the way until the end.
“But also at the same time I always say, if you got it, maybe you deserved it. I did work hard. Anyone can get a second chance, but how many of those will actually take it? I’m happy that I didn’t waste it, and I was able to convert it and to be here now.”
