Emma Raducanu withdraws from Madrid Open due to hand injury

Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the Madrid Open just hours before she was due to arrive on court for her first round match due to a right hand injury.

Raducanu traveled to the Spanish capital hoping to end a three-match losing streak and was due to start her campaign against lucky loser Viktoriya Tomova on Wednesday afternoon.

A fourth straight loss would have been the worst streak of Raducanu’s career, but the tournament’s official Twitter account revealed on Wednesday morning that the Briton had withdrawn from the event.

The 20-year-old has had an on-and-off season so far due to an ankle injury and further concerns about the wrist issue that ended her 2022 campaign prematurely.

She reached the last 32 in Indian Wells last month, but was knocked out by world number one Iga Swiatek and lost in the first round at both the Miami Open and the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

Running close to Bianca Andreescu in a three-set loss in Miami, Raducanu won just three games in Germany last week when she was defeated by Jelena Ostapenko.

As a result of her retirement in Madrid, Raducanu, currently ranked 85th in the world, is likely to fall outside the WTA top 100 for the first time since her upset triumph at the 2021 US Open.