Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the Madrid Open just hours before she was due on court for her first round match because of an injury to her right hand.
Raducanu travelled to the Spanish capital hoping to end a run of three straight defeats and was due to start her campaign against lucky loser Viktoriya Tomova on Wednesday afternoon.
A fourth straight loss would have constituted the worst run of Raducanu’s career but the tournament’s official Twitter account disclosed on Wednesday morning that she had withdrawn from the event.
The 20-year-old has had a stop-start season so far because of an ankle injury and more worries over the wrist issue that ended her 2022 campaign prematurely.
Lara Gillespie climbing the cycling ranks and finding that extra gear despite adversity
Wembley a happy hunting ground for Irish teams – just not football ones . . .
What time is the Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano fight? Irish start time, Netflix details and all you need to know
Irish racing going all ‘béal bocht’ about prizemoney a hard sell ... and even harder listen
She reached the last-32 in Indian Wells last month but was eliminated by world number one Iga Swiatek and succumbed in the first round at both the Miami Open and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
While running Bianca Andreescu close in a three-set defeat in Miami, Raducanu won just three games in Germany last week as she was thrashed by Jelena Ostapenko.
As a result of her withdrawal in Madrid, Raducanu, currently 85th in the world, is likely to fall outside the WTA’s top-100 for the first time since her surprise 2021 US Open triumph.
