Second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany maintained his composure to nab a three-set win to keep up his perfect record in opening round matches at the Mutua Madrid Open by taking down Argentina’s Mariano Navone 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday.

The two-time Madrid Open winner improved to 9-0 in his first match at the tournament after receiving a first round bye. Zverev converted 4 of 8 break point attempts and had 22 winners to Navone’s six.

“It’s definitely a different type of tournament here,” Zverev said when asked about the high-altitude conditions. “I love it. You either love it or hate it, kind of, because there is no in between. Everything is a bit faster, the ball bounces higher, the serve is maybe a bit more effective. So you either love it or hate it. Winning the tournament twice here, of course I hope to add some more titles to that. I enjoy playing here.”

With the win, Zverev has a date in the round of 32 with France’s Terence Atmane, who beat his fellow countrymen Ugo Humbert, the No. 30 seed, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) earlier in the day.

Also advancing was defending champion and No. 12 seed Casper Ruud of Norway with his 6-0, 6-1 win over Spaniard Jaume Munar. Rudd maintained his serve without being broken and forced Munar into 17 unforced errors.

No. 3 seed and 2024 finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada advanced past Lithuanian qualifier Vilius Gaubas 6-3, 6-4. Auger-Aliassime never faced a break point behind his dominant serve that yielded seven aces.

Facing off against Auger-Aliassime will be Belgium’s Alexander Blockx, who upset American and No. 28 Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The other big upset of the day was Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo beating 17-seed Learner Tien 6-4, 6-3. This was Daniel Vallejo’s first ever win over a top 75 opponent.

Vallejo will take on No. 10 Flavio Cobolli of Italy. He beat Argentinian Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4.

In the other three-set match, seventh-seeded Daniil Medvedev held strong against Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4.

In two-set action on the day, No. 13 Karen Khachanov of Russia took down Australia’s Adam Walton 6-2, 6-3; No. 16 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina outdueled German Yannick Hanfmann 6-1, 7-5; No. 18 Luciano Darderi of Italy bested Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-1, 6-3; Spain’s No. 20-seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat fellow countrymen Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3 and No. 23 Jakub Mensik of Czechia got past qualifier Martin Damm 6-3, 6-4.

Spanish qualifier Daniel Merida upset No. 26 Corentin Moutet of France 6-3, 6-4; Norwegian qualifier Nicolai Budkov Kjaer dominated No. 31 Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-1 and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas got the best of No. 8 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5.

–Field Level Media

Leo Rivas’ tie-breaking, two-run single in the ninth inning propelled the Seattle Mariners to an 11-9 victory over the host St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.

Julio Rodriguez, Will Wilson and Cole Young homered for the Mariners, who posted their third straight victory and sent the Cardinals to their third loss in a row.

For St. Louis, Nathan Church hit two home runs and JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages also went deep.

Mariners reliever Matt Brash (2-0) earned the victory and Andres Munoz worked the ninth for his fifth save.

Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien (3-1) allowed two runs and four hits in one inning in taking the loss.

J.P. Crawford reached on a bunt single with one out in the ninth, Mitch Garver walked, and Young was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Rivas lined the next pitch up the middle for two RBIs to break a 9-9 deadlock.

Seattle had tied the game in the eighth. Garver and Young led off with singles and advanced on Rivas’ sacrifice bunt. The Mariners called on Connor Joe to pinch hit, and the Cardinals countered with O’Brien. Joe lined a two-run single to right to make it 9-9.

The Mariners took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Cal Raleigh singled, and Rodriguez followed with a blast into the third deck in left field.

The Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the frame as Wetherholt lined the second pitch over the wall in right field and Herrera hit the next out to left-center.

Seattle regained the lead in the second as Garver led off with an infield single and, an out later, Wilson went deep to left. It was the first career homer for Wilson, who was making his Mariners debut at third base with former Cardinal Brendan Donovan on the 10-day injured list (left groin strain).

Church homered to right-center with one out in the bottom of the second to pull the Cardinals to 4-3.

St. Louis took the lead with four runs in the third. Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman singled to left, and Masyn Winn hit a run-scoring single to right. Church’s sacrifice fly to center scored Gorman with the go-ahead run. Pages followed with a two-run shot just inside the left-field foul pole to make it 7-4.

The Mariners tied the score with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Young led off the fourth with a homer to right.

In the fifth, Rodriguez singled and stole second. He advanced to third on Josh Naylor’s groundout and scored on Randy Arozarena’s sacrifice fly.

Church robbed Garver of a home run with a leaping catch at the left-field wall leading off the sixth. Young followed with a double and tied it at 7-all on pinch hitter Dominic Canzone’s single up the middle.

The Cardinals regained the lead in the seventh as Winn singled with one out and Church went deep to right-center.

–Field Level Media

Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo lasted just three innings and gave up seven runs on nine hits, including four homers

Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore allowed five runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings, with three homers.

Kevin Gausman pitched an effective 6 2/3 innings, Kazuma Okamoto homered and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the visiting Cleveland Guardians 5-3 on Saturday afternoon.

Gausman (2-1) allowed two runs, six hits and no walks with three strikeouts.

Louis Varland allowed one run on two singles and a double in the ninth to pick up his second save.

Andres Gimenez keyed a three-run sixth with a two-run double to help the Blue Jays gain a split of the first two games of the three-game series.

David Fry hit a solo homer for the Guardians.

Cleveland scored once in the third against Gausman. Juan Brito led off with a double to left, took third on a groundout and scored on Brayan Rocchio’s groundout to shortstop.

Okamoto led off the home fourth with a home run to center on a 1-1 fastball against Joey Cantillo (1-1).

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off the sixth with a single to right, stole second and took third on Okamoto’s single to left. Matt Festa replaced Cantillo. With one out, Daulton Varsho’s grounder to second squirted past Brito for an RBI single. Gimenez blooped a two-run double down the left-field line.

Cantillo allowed three runs, six hits and one walk while striking out four in five-plus innings.

Cleveland got one run back when Fry hit a first-pitch slider to left with one out for his first homer of the season. Mason Fluharty replaced Gausman with two outs in the seventh.

Toronto loaded the bases with none out in the seventh against Peyton Pallette when Myles Straw and Ernie Clement singled and Guerrero walked. Okamoto walked to force in the only run of the inning.

Cleveland rallied in the ninth against Varland. Rhys Hoskins and George Valera singled with one out. Pinch hitter Kyle Manzardo stroked an RBI double to left. Brito walked to load the bases before Varland struck out the next two batters.

Cleveland’s Steven Kwan was a late scratch with a stiff neck.

Toronto put Nathan Lukes on the injured list with a strained left hamstring. Outfielder Yohendrick Pinango was promoted from Triple-A Buffalo.

–Field Level Media