Home favorite Paula Badosa withdrew ahead of her second-round match Friday at the Madrid Open due to a back injury.
The ninth-seeded Spaniard was replaced by lucky loser and countrywoman Cristina Bucsa for the match with Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova.
Badosa, 27, said before the start of the WTA 1000 tournament that she still was troubled by back issues that have plagued her for the past two years.
“My back is good, slowly getting better,” she told wtatennis.com. “It’s been a tough injury, honestly, this one because it was totally different from the last one. It was an injury that was touching the nerves, so I was constantly having pain.
“My normal life was a disaster, honestly — I couldn’t even move from the couch.”
Badosa has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, most recently last August in Washington, D.C. She reached the semifinals at this year’s Australian Open for her best finish in a Grand Slam event.
–Field Level Media
