Something had to give at the Mutua Madrid Open on Sunday as two of the first three clay-court title-winners on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz this season — Marta Kostyuk and Jessica Pegula — faced off for a spot in the Round of 16. 

Both women entered the match with a 6-0 match record on the surface in WTA events this spring after taking home trophies in Rouen and Charleston, respectively, and winning their second-round matches. After 1 hour and 13 minutes on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, Kostyuk earned a 6-1, 6-4 victory to be the one who kept her winning streak in tact. 

“I think it took me many years to learn how to play Madrid,” Kostyuk said to press. “It’s very tricky, very different conditions here. I’m happy with how tactically played today, and how I used my strengths.

“Right now, I probably take each tournament separately because every tournament has such different conditions. For me, this is not clay. Rouen is not clay. Clay is Rome probably or Paris, but the rest of the season is really different clay, where it’s not something I grew up on, and I had to learn how to adapt.”

With her 13th career Top 10 victory, Kostyuk advances to face Pegula’s compatriot, Caty McNally, for a spot in the quarterfinals. While Kostyuk will be bidding to reach the quarterfinals in Madrid for the second year in a row, McNally advanced to the fourth round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career after saving two match points in a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(2) win over Katerina Siniakova. 

More facts and figures from Kostyuk’s triumph included: 

2: After losing four of the first five matches she played against Pegula, Kostyuk has now won two in a row in the head-to-head. She also beat Pegula 6-0, 6-3 in the semifinals of the Brisbane International in January.

3: Kostyuk posted runs of three straight games three separate times in victory. She won the first three, and last three, games of the opening set, and also did it from 1-0 down in the second set.

4: The Ukrainian broke Pegula four times on seven break-point opportunities. 

8: Having also picked up a win over Magda Linette in Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers for Ukraine, eight matches in a career-long winning streak for Kostyuk. After winning her first career title in Austin three years ago, her unbeaten was stopped at five matches. 

10: In all, Kostyuk saved 10 of the 11 break points she faced — including all nine in the opening set. Four of those came in a five-deuce service hold for 3-0, and then she saved two more in each of the fifth and seventh games.

20: Kostyuk recorded 20 winners in the win — far dwarfing Pegula’s nine. 

“I think it was just a good wake-up call for me to just think a little bit smarter out there,” Pegula said to press. “I actually felt good when I was hitting the ball, but I just don’t think I played very smart. I don’t think I was playing the right patterns I needed to play. 

“I was just not happy with the strategy that I was kind of playing.”

27: Kostyuk was particularly effective when returning Pegula’s second serves. The American won just 27% of those points in the match.

“I think it was a good match,” Kostyuk said in her on-court interview. “I played Jessica this year already, and she’s such a tough player, such a solid player, so I was going into this match fully ready for a big battle. I’m very, very happy to finish this in two.”

“I think I’m definitely enjoying playing tennis since I got injured in the Australian Open. I had to rethink a little bit how to approach this and how much it costs me to be on this court — my energy, my physical energy. I’m very happy with the adjustments that we made, I’m very happy with the progress that we’re making as a team, and I think that’s all that matters.

“I’ve never had such a long winning streak in my career, so we must be doing something right!”