Top 10 roundup: Paolini, Pegula advance; Zheng upset on busy day in Madrid

MADRID -- Anastasia Potapova
This was Zheng’s first match on red clay since winning the gold medal in singles last summer at the Paris Olympics. Previously, Zheng had won three of four matches against Potapova.
After withdrawing from a Round of 16 match against Aryna Sabalenka
“It means a lot because it’s my first win against Top 10 in quite a long time,” Potapova said afterward.
Asked if she knew the details of the streak, Potapova ventured, “I don’t know. I would go five?”
Eight.
“Well that’s not such a bad number -- it is my favorite number.”
Madrid: Draws | Scores | Order of play | Tournament info
Potapova, No. 39 in the PIF WTA Rankings, took the Transylvania Open title back in February and has now won 15 of 21 matches this season.
“This win doesn’t feel crazy and something out of this world,” Potapova said, “only because the last matches that we played it was such a battle, always the tiebreak was involved, over three hours. Maybe this gave me the feeling that I’m actually on the same level as her.
“I think it’s just the mindset that I can do it. I didn’t try to convince myself -- I knew it. That was the difference. In the key moments, I was not afraid of hitting the ball because I knew deep inside that it could be my match.”
Next up in a Sunday third-round match: No. 32 seed Sofia Kenin
Here is a roundup of other Top 10 players in action Friday:
Paolini cruises to third round
Jasmine Paolini
Paolini, who reached her first major final at Roland Garros last year, raced out of the blocks, firing five clean winners to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Boulter, whose first-round defeat of Katerina Siniakova
But that was the best Boulter would produce all match. Paolini raced through the next nine games without so much as facing game point, delivering a succession of heavy forehands and deft drop shots that exposed Boulter's movement. In the second set, she conceded just four points in the first five games. The Briton was increasingly unable to control her strokes, racking up 21 unforced errors in total.
At 5-0 up, Paolini had a brief lapse with a pair of double faults, while Boulter managed to find the court sufficiently to get two games on the board. It wasn't enough; the Italian served out the match with a minimum of fuss the second time round. Paolini, whose career-best Madrid result to date was a fourth-round run last year, will bid to repeat that against either No. 29 seed Magda Linette
Former finalist Pegula rolls
No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula
Madrid has been a milestone city for Pegula in the past -- she made her first career WTA 1000 final here in 2022, finishing runner-up to Ons Jabeur
World No. 68 Lys, firmly ensconced as the German No. 1 by a wide margin, had six chances to break Pegula in the first set. Pegula, though, erased five of them to keep her serve generally under control. And the American was incredible on return in the opener, blasting return winners nearly at will as she won 77 percent of points on Lys' second serve.
The second set was more of the same as Pegula closed out the 1-hour and 12-minute win. Once again, Pegula stands alone as this year's tour-level match-win leader, after obtaining her 27th victory of 2025. Pegula is one victory ahead of World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka
Pegula will try to keep her Madrid run going with a third-round showdown against Moyuka Uchijima
A lot is at stake for Pegula this week -- a deep run could potentially see her claim the World No. 2 ranking for the first time in her career.