The Clay-Court swing headed to Spain this week for the Mutua Madrid Open, the first WTA 1000 tournament of the clay season.<\/p>\n
The first week of action had plenty of highlights, including an epic 15-13 third-set tiebreak. (More on that below.) It also had plenty of brilliant shots that are (mostly) unique to this surface and this part of this year.<\/p>\n
We’ve rounded up our picks for the best five shots of the week. Check them out below, and make sure to vote for your favorite WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz shot at the bottom.<\/p>\n
Camila Osorio’s backhand winner<\/p>\n
After Camila Osorio slid to hit a one-handed backhand drop shot, Naomi Osaka came in and drilled a backhand deep into the corner. But the Colombian, with excellent anticipation and instincts, ripped a backhand winner from beyond the doubles alley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Osaka went on to win 6-2, 7-5.<\/p>\n
Hot shot: From outside the tramlines, Osorio nails backhand winner in Madrid<\/p>\n
Yuliia Starodubtseva’s forehand pass down the line<\/p>\n
Leading 5-3, 30-15 in the first set against Jaqueline Cristian, Yuliia Starodubtseva hit a short ball that Cristian teed up and hit down the line. But Starodubtseva sprinted to it and, from well behind the baseline, hit a winning forehand pass down the line.<\/p>\n
Starodubtseva took the first set, but Cristian rallied to win the next two for the 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory.<\/p>\n
Hot shot: Yuliia Starodubtseva’s magnificent pass in Madrid<\/p>\n
Daria Snigur’s backhand on the line to save the match<\/p>\n
On Daria Kasatkina’s second match point, leading 7-6 in the third-set tiebreaker, Daria Snigur hit a backhand winner from deep in the corner, behind the baseline, that just grazed the line. Everyone on Court 3 in La Caja M\u00e1gica was in stunned disbelief, from Kasatkina to Snigur’s father, watching from the stands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Snigur, who was playing her first tour-level match on clay after coming through qualifying, went on to win 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (13) in one of the most thrilling finishes of the year. She saved four match points and converted her seventh to advance to the second round. The 15-13 tiebreaker was the longest third-set tiebreaker on the WTA Tour since 2018.<\/p>\n
Hot shot: Daria Snigur grazes the line to save match point in Madrid<\/p>\n
Emiliana Arango’s drop-shot winner<\/p>\n
Talia Gibson put Emiliana Arango on the defensive with her powerful groundstrokes to both sides of the court, but Gibson had no answer for Arango’s gorgeous drop shot from behind the baseline that landed just over the net. Elite touch.<\/p>\n
Arango breezed comfortably to a 6-3, 6-2 win.<\/p>\n
Hot shot: Emiliana Arango’s ‘genius’ drop shot in Madrid<\/p>\n
Carlota Martinez Cirez’s half-volleyed pick-up winner<\/p>\n
This is clay-court tennis at its finest. Sliding, angles, drop shots, sprinting, defense — this point between Spanish wild card Carlota Martinez Cirez and Zeynep Sonmez had it all. And it ended fittingly, with Cirez hitting a pick-up winner to the delight of the home crowd.<\/p>\n
Sonmez ended up advancing with a 7-5, 6-2 win in Manolo Santana Stadium.<\/p>\n
Hot shot: Carlota Martinez Cirez’s ‘Alcaraz-style’ pick-up in Madrid<\/p>\n
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