Though rolling blackouts across the region suspended play at the 2025 Madrid Open on Monday, many top US talents are working their way through the clay court competition to great success.
World No. 4 Coco Gauff dispatched Switzerland's No. 42 Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 in Monday's Round of 16, exiting the court just before the arena lost power.
"I feel like, at this point, this is only a situation you can laugh at if I was on court," Gauff said after her post-match interview was cut short by a deadened mic. "Because it's probably not going to happen ever again, and we'll always remember the day the power went out at Madrid Open."
Gauff next faces No. 7 Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals, where a win could see her swap places with the now-ousted Jessica Pegula in the WTA rankings to reclaim No. 3 — and resume her title as the highest-ranked US player.
The rest of the Round of 16 resumed early Tuesday morning, with fellow US star and world No. 5 Madison Keys taking down Croatia's No. 21 Donna Vekić 6-2, 6-3 before No. 2 Iga Świątek eked out a win against No. 13 Diana Shnaider 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
Keys and Świątek will now square off in the quarterfinals — their first meeting since Keys upset the Polish star in January's Australian Open semifinal.
How to watch the 2025 Madrid Open quarterfinals
The 2025 Madrid Open quarterfinals kick off at 4 AM ET on Wednesday. Coverage of the tournament will continue to air live on the Tennis Channel.
Clay season is in full swing, as the world's top tennis talents hit the court at the 2025 Madrid Open this week, seeking strong performances on the tricky surface before contending in the French Open next month — the clay court's Grand Slam.
The second round of the 2025 Madrid Open kicked off early Thursday morning, with much of the sport's Top 25 hunting the WTA 1000 event's title.
Leading the field is clay specialist Iga Świątek, as the world No. 2 player will look to defend her 2024 Madrid trophy and stir up momentum for the month ahead.
Despite ceding her No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka late last year, Świątek is nearly impossible to beat on clay, with four French Open championships already under her belt.
The 23-year-old, however, is coming off a quarterfinal upset loss to eventual champion No. 18 Jeļena Ostapenko at last week's 2025 Stuttgart Open — a clay-court tournament Świątek's won twice.
That said, Świątek is off to strong start in Madrid, where she defeated No. 72 Alexandra Eala 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday — enacting revenge on the teen Philippines phenom after Eala defeated her in the 2025 Miami Open final last month.

Gauff seeks 2025 season turnaround on clay
Along with Świątek, other players to watch this week include US favorites No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 4 Coco Gauff, and No. 5 Madison Keys.
Keys and Gauff will begin their 2025 Madrid Open runs on Thursday, while Pegula will start serving in the second wave of the tournament's round of 64 on Friday.
Gauff has seen past success on clay, reaching the French Open final back in 2022 — to face eventual champion Świątek.
The 21-year-old star, however, is in the midst of a particularly frustrating 2025 run, having yet to advance past the quarterfinals of any competition since winning the 2024 WTA Finals.
"I've started to believe that you can just turn it around any week. And just as quickly as you can go on a tear, you can also lose," Gauff said this week.
How to watch the 2025 Madrid Open
The 2025 Madrid Open runs through Saturday, May 3rd. Continuing live coverage will air on the Tennis Channel.
Ons Jabeur won her first WTA 1000 title on Saturday, taking down Jessica Pegula 7-5, 0-6, 6-2 to win the Madrid Open.
It was a back-and-forth 1-hour and 54-minute victory for the 10th-ranked player in the world. It’s her second career title after she became the first Arab woman to win a Hologic WTA Tour singles title last year.
On hand for the win were all of Jabeur’s siblings as well as the head of the Tunisian tennis federation.
Ons Jabeur’s siblings and the head of the Tunisian tennis federation flew in last night and all got to witness her special moment today ❤️❤️🏆 pic.twitter.com/jbD1vbQJwr
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) May 7, 2022
Jabeur has had a great start to the year, finishing runner-up at the Charleston Open and making a quarterfinal run in Stuttgart. In total, she’s won 12 clay-court matches so far this season, leading the tour on the surface. It’s her 20th match win overall on the season.
She’s expected to return to her career-high No. 7 in the world.
Emma Raducanu is moving on in Madrid after cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk Sunday.
The No. 9 seed has now recorded five victories in her first seven tour matches on clay.
Dropping only 3⃣ games!
— wta (@WTA) May 1, 2022
🇬🇧 @EmmaRaducanu is all smiles as she continues her straight-sets run in Madrid 😃#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/p0su2UreoU
Reigning U.S. Open champion Raducanu won seven straight games during one stretch of the match, fully taking control of the contest. Winning 88. 9 percent of her first-serve points, Raducanu overpowered Kostyuk for a dominant second-round showing.
The 19-year-old will next face Anhelina Kalinina, who upset Garbiñe Muguruza, in Mutua Madrid Open’s third round.
Iga Swiatek has withdrawn from the Madrid Open due to a right shoulder injury, the World No. 1 announced Wednesday via social media.
The Polish star told her followers on Twitter that she would miss the Madrid Open, which kicked off its qualifying matches Tuesday, citing a tired arm.
🎾Unfortunately my team and I decided that I need to withdraw from Madrid. I hope to see you next year.
— Iga Świątek (@iga_swiatek) April 27, 2022
🎾Razem z moim teamem zdecydowaliśmy, że niestety wycofam się z turnieju w Madrycie. pic.twitter.com/SQ4lJUwhPd
“After intense last weeks and winning four titles in a row it’s time to take care of my arm that has been fatigued since the Miami Open and I haven’t had a chance to handle it properly,” Swiatek wrote. “I need a break from playing so intensively in order to treat my arm well and that’s why, unfortunately, I have to withdraw from the Mutua Madrid Open. My body needs rest.”
Swiatek has had a stellar start to the year, notching 23 straight wins to clinch four straight titles, including the Stuttgart Open, Indian Wells, Miami Open and Qatar Open.
Round of 64 play begins in Madrid on Thursday, with No. 4 Maria Sakkari and American Madison Keys headlining the first-round matchups.
Fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka bested No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty to capture the Mutua Madrid Open championship.
The Belarusian snaps the World No.1's red clay win streak at 16 matches to claim her first title on the dirt 🙌@SabalenkaA | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/6HyJOoL43q
— wta (@WTA) May 8, 2021
Sabalenka won 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, nabbing her second title of the year and her first ever on clay.
The upset ended Barty’s domination on dirt and propelled Sabalenka to her 10th career title.
Naomi Osaka found herself in unfamiliar territory this weekend when she was knocked out of the Mutua Madrid Open early in the second round.
Her opponent Karolina Muchova had a commanding first set, beating Osaka 6-4 and going up a break early in the second.
Never one to give up, Osaka clawed her way back into the match, winning five straight games to claim the second set 6-3.
After losing momentum to Osaka, Muchova regained her confidence in the deciding set. Moving seamlessly on the clay surface, Muchova took the third set 6-1.
🚨 Upset alert 🚨
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) May 2, 2021
🇨🇿 @karomuchova7 beats 2nd seed Osaka 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/9THBv5z2t0
On the same day, Victoria Azarenka announced that she will pull out of Madrid to tend to a nagging lower back injury.
With Naomi Osaka and Azarenka out early, the women’s draw in Madrid has opened up considerably.
🇧🇾 Victoria Azarenka is withdrawing from singles and doubles main draw due to low back injury.
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) May 2, 2021
Get well soon, @vika7! 🧡😘 pic.twitter.com/dRujZHZmWU
While other stars falter, former Madrid Champion Simona Halep is emerging as an early favorite after her commanding 6-0, 6-4 win over Saisai Zheng.
She will play the winner of the Mertens, Rybakina match in the round of sixteen.
Simona storms through ⚡️
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) May 2, 2021
🇷🇴 @Simona_Halep d. 🇨🇳 Zheng 6-0, 6-4#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/LhpgY57c25