Anastasia Potapova’s run at the Mutua Madrid Open reads like a study in second chances. After losing in the final qualifying round, she was on a short Spanish break when a late call brought her back to the Caja Magica as a lucky loser roughly 30 minutes before her scheduled first-round match.

“I just let it go,” she said, describing those unexpected days off. “I had beautiful two days off in Madrid. I love Spain. I had good food, my family was here. I was really enjoying it.

“I cannot say that I was preparing for something, I was not at all. But I was trying just to recover and to have some nice days. But maybe that’s the key, you don’t need to be always so zoomed in and so locked in on the tournament. Maybe it’s just a matter of sometimes just to enjoy yourself and enjoy the journey, and maybe that’s how the results can also come.”

The approach produced a breakthrough. The 25-year-old produced back-to-back upsets of Jelena Ostapenko and Elena Rybakina and then survived a testing quarterfinal against former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, prevailing 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3 to reach her first WTA 1000 semifinal.

“I’ve been given a second chance, and I’ve been using it very good,” she said at her post-match press conference. The match nearly slipped away when Pliskova saved three match points and moved ahead early in the decider.

“I couldn’t handle my nerves,” Potapova admitted, later joking “I needed drama.” She credited encouragement from boyfriend Tallon Greikspoor, audible in the stands, for steadying her when it mattered. “He just told me to shut up, to keep on working, to start working with my legs, and that we are both here together in this match, I’m not just by myself. It just happened at the such important moment, and it gave me a lot of energy.”

Potapova closed out the final five games and booked a place in the semis, a result set to move her back into the world’s Top 40 after a drop to No. 97 earlier this month. I always say, if you got it, maybe you deserved it. So I did work hard. I also, you know, anyone can get a second chance, but how many of those will actually take it? Anastasia Potapova

“I do think it’s a miracle,” she added. “It’s pretty rare when you get the second chance and that you go almost all the way until the end.”

Hailey Baptiste produced a tense, determined performance to end Aryna Sabalenka’s 15-match winning streak and halt the top seed’s Mutua Madrid Open title defense. The No. 30 seed came from a set down to win 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) inside Manolo Santana Stadium, recording her first career victory over a world No. 1.

Baptiste faced down six match points en route to the win. Five of Sabalenka’s match points occurred while Baptiste was serving at 4-5 in the third set. The Belarusian’s sixth opportunity came on her own racquet at 6-5 in the tie-break, where she just missed her backhand up the line wide.

The comeback represented Baptiste’s first Top 10 victory since ousting Jasmine Paolini at this very event 12 months earlier. Her previous highest-ranked scalp was No. 8 Elina Svitolina last month at the Miami Open. Those results have helped the Washington native extend her best career run at a WTA 1000 event.

Baptiste’s win stops Sabalenka’s attempt to defend the Madrid title and brings to an end a run of 15 consecutive victories for the world No. 1. The match unfolded as an exchange of power and resilience, with Baptiste steadying after a lopsided opening set and forcing a deciding tiebreak after taking the second set.

With the victory, Baptiste advances to the semifinals and will face ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva. The result marks a notable milestone for Baptiste, who notched the biggest win of her career by defeating the top-ranked player in the draw.

The scoreline and critical points underlined how fine the margins were: a single missed backhand in the tiebreak proved decisive, and six saved match points swung the match in Baptiste’s favor. The outcome reshapes the later rounds of the Madrid tournament and provides a significant boost to Baptiste’s momentum at a WTA 1000 event.

Mirra Andreeva advanced to her third consecutive Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinal after a nearly three-hour match that swung repeatedly in momentum. The No. 9 seed recovered from a late collapse to defeat Anna Bondar 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5), completing a run in which she has beaten Hungary’s top-three ranked players in succession following wins over Panna Udvardy and Dalma Galfi.

The contest on Court 3 produced one of the day’s more unusual exchanges. Serving at 2-2, 40-40 in the second set, Andreeva approached chair umpire Jennifer Zhang to complain of an odor behind her end of the court. “It literally smells like bullshit over there. Like very bad,” she said. Andreeva then pushed ahead, winning nine of the next 11 games and improving her season record on clay to 10-1.

Momentum shifted again as Andreeva dropped five straight games, a sequence that included a missed match point on Bondar’s serve at 5-3 in the third. Needing to hold serve to force a tie-break, she took a seat and confided in her team, “I’m not a champion. I’m not a champion,” in raising her hand with a no. “I’m going to lose. I’m going to lose.”

Despite the visible doubt, Andreeva steadied herself. The next seven points went her way, and she changed ends in the decisive tie-break with a 4-2 lead. Bondar fought back, erasing the mini break with a backhand winner and again at 4-6 when Andreeva poorly cut a backhand drop shot. On her third match point, Andreeva finished the match by attacking Bondar’s second serve and producing a clean backhand return winner up the line.

Tears followed the handshake, more relief than celebration after a draining encounter that combined on-court disruption, a dramatic swing in form, and a narrow finish that keeps Andreeva moving through the Madrid draw.