{"id":632581,"date":"2026-04-26T19:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632581\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T19:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:12:08","slug":"a-dream-come-true-mental-game-and-mondays-slate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632581\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A dream come true’, mental game and Monday’s slate"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADRID — There was one tournament in mind that Karolina Pliskova particular wanted to play this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That tournament? The former World No. 1 on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz really wanted to play the Mutua Madrid Open, and she certainly had additional motivation to do so.<\/p>\n

Pliskova’s sister, former WTA player Kristyna, lives in Madrid with her husband David Hancko, who plays for Spanish football club Atl\u00e9tico Madrid, and it was an oppotunity for Pliskova to compete with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“For me it was a dream and it was my biggest goal to play here in Madrid for them,” Pliskova said to press after her third round win over Elise Mertens Sunday. “I didn’t like the tournament before that much, but because of them, this was my goal for this year to play Madrid so they can come, watch and support.<\/p>\n

“Her husband, he plays obviously for Atl\u00e9tico Madrid, so it was tough with his schedule as well to come, but he made it for the first round, and second round, he couldn’t. But now he was there, the schedule was perfect for today, so it was great that they were there.”<\/p>\n

Pliskova certainly put on an entertaining show on Sunday too, rallying from 1-4, [0-40] third-set deficit to defeat Mertens. The Czech has now reached the Round of 16 in Madrid for the second time in her career, eight years after her semifinal run at the 2018 edition. She’ll face Madrid debutant Solana Sierra for a spot in the quarterfinals Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pliskova’s still returning to form after recovering from two surgeries on her left foot from a 2024 US Open injury that damaged various ligaments and tendons. She’s been using her protected ranking to enter tournaments, and is playing selectively, electing to skip the Sunshine Double, following a third round runs at the Australian Open and in Doha.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Down a third-set break, Pliskova storms back to beat Mertens in Madrid<\/p>\n

“I hope to be OK,” Pliskova said regarding her recovery plan for tomorrow’s Round of 16 match. “Tough to say now. I’m OK now because now it’s still a lot of emotions and everything, but I think I’ll be fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was training pretty well to be ready for clay, but of course, matches are a bit different, and this match was also a lot of nerves. Always the body reacts a little bit different to that.”<\/p>\n

Pliskova will face Madrid debutant Solana Sierra for a spot in the quarterfinals. In their lone meeting, Pliskova defeated the Argentinian 6-1, 6-2 in Doha.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McNally credits her mental game<\/p>\n

From one three-set thriller to another, American Caty McNally<\/a> — fresh off her\u00a0first career top 10 win over Victoria Mboko on Friday — saved two match points vs. Katerina Siniakova in a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (2) win.<\/p>\n

The victory solidified McNally\u2019s first appearance in the Last 16 at the WTA 1000 event, where she will face Marta Kostyuk. For McNally, the match point situations boiled down to her mental toughness, something that she\u2019s been putting an additional focus on as of late.<\/p>\n

“I think maybe in the past, I would have folded on those match points or kind of just throw in the towel, but\u2019s really cool to see the mental work paying off,” McNally said.<\/p>\n

McNally added that a massive part of this work has been journaling, which during changeovers, she\u2019ll read her notes. In addition, she\u2019s been working with a mental wellness coach on her team for about the past year.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s been something the last couple months I’ve really started to lock in on, and something that has been able to transform my mind on the court and put myself in a position \u2014 no matter the day, no matter how I’m feeling, the opponent \u2014 I can give myself an opportunity to play my best tennis.<\/p>\n

“No matter what’s going on, I think it’s so easy to think of negatives, think of things that could go wrong, but I think for me \u2014 just the controllables, what can I control in those moments. Feeding my brain with positive thoughts, actions that I can control, things that I can take care of.”<\/p>\n

McNally fell to Kostyuk last week in the second round in Rouen, where Kostyuk eventually won her second career singles title.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s Round of 16 showdowns<\/p>\n

The Madrid action continues with a full slate of singles play as all 16 remaining players will compete for the eight quarterfinal spots: Here\u2019s a rapid breakdown of Monday\u2019s matchups:<\/p>\n

Manolo Santana Stadium<\/p>\n

NB 1:00 p.m. Aryna Sabalenka vs. Naomi Osaka
Head-to-Head: Tied at 1-1
Last played: Sabalenka 6-2, 6-4 at 2026 Indian Wells Round of 16<\/p>\n

NB 4:00 p.m. Coco Gauff vs. Linda Noskova
Head-to-Head: Gauff leads 2-0
Last played: Gauff 6-4, 6-0 at 2023 Cincinnati Round of 16<\/p>\n

NB 9:00 p.m. Qinwen Zheng or Elena Rybakina vs. Jelena Ostapenko or Anastasia Potapova
Head-to-Head: TBD
Last played: TBD<\/p>\n

Arantxa Sanchez Stadium<\/p>\n

11:00 a.m. Belinda Bencic vs. Hailey Baptiste
First meeting<\/p>\n

NB 7:00 p.m. Marta Kostyuk vs. Caty McNally
Head-to-Head: Kostyuk leads 1-0
Last played: Kostyuk 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 at 2026 Rouen second round<\/p>\n

Stadium 3<\/p>\n

11:00 a.m. Ann Li vs. Leylah Fernandez
Head-to-Head: Li leads 2-0
Last played: Li 6-4, 6-3 at 2026 Doha first round
*Li defeated Fernandez 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 at 2025 Madrid second round<\/p>\n

FB Solana Sierra vs. Karolina Pliskova
Head-to-Head: Pliskova leads 1-0
Last played: Pliskova 6-1, 6-2 at 2026 Doha first round<\/p>\n

NB 3:00 p.m. Mirra Andreeva vs. Anna Bondar
Head-to-Head: Bondar leads 1-0
Last played: Bondar 7-6 (3), 6-3 at 2023 Lausanne Round of 16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID — There was one tournament in mind that Karolina Pliskova particular wanted to play this season.\u00a0 That…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-632581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}