Preview WTA Madrid Open 2025: Iga Swiatek question marks, Aryna Sabalenka aims to bounce back as action heads to Caja Magica

The Caja Magica is the home for the next two weeks from 22 April - 4 May with the WTA tournament starting earlier than the men's and ahead of the action starting on Tuesday, our Preview looks ahead.

Aryna Sabalenka will finally aim for a hat-trick of titles this next week and perhaps is in her best position to do so despite another disheartening loss in the final of Stuttgart.

It is a rare position to see the current queen of women's tennis falter at the face of a final but she seems to have an issue sealing the win and in particular the Porsche. One she joked that she now has to buy given that she has the money to do so and it seems the only way.

But often with the setback comes the comeback for Sabalenka who obviously loves this event and will look to use the next fortnight to put in her claim for Roland Garros. Especially with Iga Swiatek not at her best at all, it could finally be the year we could see a new winner in Paris so could Sabalenka stake her claim early.

But Swiatek as a result could have a point to prove but she will have to do it the hard way. A statistic stated that her run in Madrid is basically all of the players who have defeated her in their last head to head apart from one.

Alexandra Eala would start who beat her in Miami, then Linda Noskova is the only anomaly. But she pushed her to three sets and has beat her at a Grand Slam. Then it is Jelena Ostapenko potentially again before a run of Madison Keys, Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka.

Albeit Ostapenko could be the biggest problem of all given that she is now 6-0 up on the World No.2. A position she could lose if she loses early in Madrid and the Queen of Consistency Jessica Pegula does better and gets to the latter stages or even wins it. If Swiatek drops points continually during the next few weeks anyway, Pegula will be World No.2. It is more damage control until the grass now in order to stop her.

Speaking of Pegula is the only other player with a clay title at 500 or above this year winning Charleston in the opening week. But as her loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova painted there is often this sense of are you doing too much before the Lord Mayor's Show.

Pegula originally was set to play Billie Jean King Cup too but decided against it but has still played most weeks since Austin especially given that she is defending absolutely nothing until Berlin on grass and nothing major until at least the US Open run-in. But she will want to make hay while the sunshines.

Eva Lys likely awaits first before potentially facing Ons Jabeur who is the former queen of Madrid having won the title and produced some of her best tennis of her career at the Caja Magica in her pomp.

But it is not Pegula that has question marks out of the American contingent. It is Coco Gauff who was well beaten by Jasmine Paolini this past week and lost to Magda Linette in Miami. It was Belinda Bencic in Indian Wells. She seemed to put to bed any issues en route to winning the WTA Finals.

But see cases of Diana Shnaider and even Zheng Qinwen, many players had their form in the back end of the year when many of the top names fell off or weren't playing now can't reproduce this year in a worrying trend.

Not to say someone with the quality of Gauff can't turn it around but there has to be some concerns as of right now heading into a pivotal juncture of the season.

Paolini had a great week in Stuttgart losing in the semi-finals in a valiant effort to Sabalenka. She is one to watch this week also with Marc Lopez, former established player and coach of Rafael Nadal in her corner. She heads to Madrid hoping to count on some Spanish flair to help her through.

Mirra Andreeva also was discovered in the psyche of tennis fans at this tournament as a 15-year-old who said Andy Murray was beautiful. Now she turns 18 during this event and will legally be allowed to drink apart from in the US of course.

She is also now a top 10 star and was a back-to-back winner in the WTA 1000 series earlier this summer. A semi-finalist at Roland Garros last summer, she will also be one to watch. While Paula Badosa is also a quisitive case.

She up to Merida Open Akron was one of the best in the world again but she had a recurrence of her back injury which has threatened again to derail her. Can she perform for her home fans.

Emma Navarro concludes the top 10 and could also be one to watch. She played well in Stuttgart but ran into a certain Jelena Ostapenko who will either be a one tournament winner or will go on a similar tear to last season where she couldn't stop winning.

Elena Rybakina is just outside the top 10 and has had an interesting time herself. While she has been training whether rightfully or wrongfully with banned coach Stefano Vukov in Dubai, she also played Billie Jean King Cup.

She anchored her country to the Finals and played well. But hit out at the schedule while she was there about the fact she couldn't then play Stuttgart. She has now fallen in the rankings as a result.

A player who is unfortunately falling down the trap door a bit and is also more in the headlines for stories about Vukov it seems than her on court wins. Something she will hope can change ahead of a busy period.

Karolina Muchova is also a story in herself. A formidable clay court talent and like Pegula doesn't defend a thing as she barely played last year. If there is a a drop off from the lead names, it could be her that shines. Finally of course Emma Raducanu is involved.

After her Quarter-Final run in Miami, she returns with Mark Petchey when he isn't working for Tennis Channel. She showed real promise last season on clay so can she finally put it together this time around.