Bad news from Madrid as Venus Williams had to retire from the tournament.
The world no.21 announced her retirement few hours before playing to Medina-Garrigues on the Centre Court. In a statement she commented “I was looking forward to playing, but unfortunately my back is hurting and I am not able to compete.”.
Venus has been replaced by lucky loser Stefanie Voelgele that lost 6-3 6-3 to Medina-Garrigues.
Unfortunately there have been some more retirement as Elena Vesnina couldn’t complete her match because of a lumbar spinal injury, Morita suffered from a left abductor strain and Zakolapova couldn’t compete because she was struggling for a form of asthma.
