{"id":103067,"date":"2026-04-20T15:50:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=103067"},"modified":"2026-04-20T15:50:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:50:48","slug":"five-best-round-1-wta-madrid-townsend-boulter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2026\/04\/20\/five-best-round-1-wta-madrid-townsend-boulter\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Five Round 1 WTA Madrid Matches Including Taylor Townsend vs Katie Boulter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The main draw of the WTA 1000 in Madrid is set to get underway on Tuesday, starting off with unseeded matchups in the first round. Here are five first-round matches that stand out:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Peyton Stearns vs Lois Boisson<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Last year\u2019s Roland Garros semifinalist Lois Boisson hasn\u2019t played yet this season, but she\u2019ll be making her 2026 debut in Madrid. Last year Boisson proved just how skilled she is on clay with numerous high-quality wins<\/a>, but her comeback won\u2019t be easy considering her first match back. Peyton Stearns is a tough out for anyone, known for her high-risk, high-reward style of play. This is an important litmus test for Boisson, and a chance for Stearns to steady her game. The winner of this match will have a tall task in the second round as they take on top seed Aryna Sabalenka.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Taylor Townsend vs Katie Boulter<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Coming off a Sunshine Double run in doubles, Taylor Townsend will kick things off on clay in Madrid. Boulter has played a few clay tournaments leading up to Madrid and hasn\u2019t had the best results, but Boulter showed earlier this year that she can turn around poor runs of form. Townsend has had fairly consistent results in singles, but neither player is really the favorite in this matchup\u2014and especially not on clay. This match very much feels like it could be anyone\u2019s game, and whoever emerges victorious will face fifth seed Jessica Pegula in the second round.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Yulia Putintseva vs Tereza Valentova<\/strong><\/h4>\n

With a lot of young players making waves in the tennis world, Tereza Valentova has flown somewhat under the radar. 19 years old and currently sitting just outside the Top 50, Valentova has shown a lot of promise on the WTA Tour. In contrast, Yulia Putintseva is an established player who has fallen far from her career high of No. 20. She\u2019s still capable of her best level, though, and her experience could prove too much for Valentova\u2019s raw talent, but this could also be a chance for Valentova to get a notable win. The winner of this match will take on 26th seed Marta Kostyuk in the second round.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Magdalena Frech vs Katerina Siniakova<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Few players take part in as many back-and-forth, exciting matches as Katerina Siniakova. She had an excellent run last month in Indian Wells, including a massive first-round comeback. Siniakova has the tools to beat just about anyone, but she can also play a close match against anyone on Tour. Magdalena Frech hasn\u2019t won many matches lately, but in February she had a solid run to the final of Merida and she\u2019s still a Top 50 player. This matchup feels primed to be long and chaotic, especially on the slower surface of Madrid. Whoever pulls through is set to play a second-round match against 17th seed Clara Tauson.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Ashlyn Krueger vs Sofia Kenin<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Neither Ashlyn Krueger nor Sofia Kenin is at their best right now, with both players far from their career highs\u2014but that can make for a compelling match. Both players are fighting to find their best form, and a win over the other could be a massive confidence boost. Kenin has more experience on clay but doesn\u2019t really have the results to back that up, while Krueger is still finding her footing. In a match likely to be dominated by return, it\u2019s hard to say who will come out on top. The winner will take on 32nd seed Qinwen Zheng–another player looking to rediscover her best tennis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The main draw of the WTA 1000 in Madrid is set to get underway on Tuesday, starting off with unseeded matchups in the first round. Here are five first-round matches that stand out: 1. Peyton Stearns vs Lois Boisson Last year\u2019s Roland Garros semifinalist Lois Boisson hasn\u2019t played yet this season, but she\u2019ll be making […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5769,"featured_media":59998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2,9],"tags":[1766,16716,11133,3535,2254,1225,42905,4594,2372,18047,16942,1900,58,43011,462],"class_list":["post-103067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wta","category-featured","category-news","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-ashlyn-krueger","tag-clara-tauson","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-katerina-siniakova","tag-katie-boulter","tag-lois-boisson","tag-magdalena-frech","tag-marta-kostyuk","tag-peyton-stearns","tag-qinwen-zheng","tag-sofia-kenin","tag-taylor-townsend","tag-tereza-valentova","tag-yulia-putintseva"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5769"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103067"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103093,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103067\/revisions\/103093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}