Mixed results came in the first round of the WTA draw at Madrid. It was an encounter with the court, the crowd and the desire to perform well. In some cases, the pressure to be a seeded player was enough to throw a favorite off because the opponent played without anything to lose.

In the first round, we witnessed Garbiñe Muguruza apparently dealing with the pressure of winning at home and responding to her fans and local opinion. The result - she couldn’t control the nerves and struck 20 unforced errors losing to Timea Bacsinszky 6-1 6-3. Bacsinszky played at a high-level, without anything to lose and things went smoothly.

Madison Keys, the 9-seed, suffered a subpar day against Misaki Doi of Japan. For Doi, it was “The Match”, and Keys had to raise her game to stay alive in the meeting. But it was Doi who made the better shots in the decisive points winning in three sets 6-4 4-6 6-4.

On the other hand, the first round can also show the confidence status of some players. It was Angelique Kerber who won 6-4 6-2 against Timea Babos and Simona Halep crushed Krystina Pliskova 6-1 6-2.

It’s important to remember that the first objective of each player is to start off on a good foot. Each knows that passing the first round is hard, but if they win, they not only win the match but the confidence to keep winning. This is what sometimes makes players who come from the qualifying draw dangerous as they come into the main draw on a winning streak and with high confidence.

The first round begins in the ATP main draw on Monday. It will be interesting to see how the favorites play against players who play with everything to gain and nothing to lose.