Karolina Pliskova out of Madrid due to injury sustained versus Iga Swiatek



by DZEVAD MESIC

Karolina Pliskova out of Madrid due to injury sustained versus Iga Swiatek

Former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova has withdrawn from the Madrid Open after suffering a knee injury in Stuttgart. Pliskova, 31, kicked off her clay season last week in Stuttgart. In Stuttgart, Pliskova reached the quarterfinal before losing to world No 1 Iga Swiatek.

As a result, Pliskova is forced to skip the first WTA 1000 clay tournament of the year. "So sorry I have to announce my withdrawal from @MutuaMadridOpen. During my last match in Stuttgart, I injured my knee. I will try my best to be ready for Rome.

Thank you for your support. See you soon on the court. Cheers," Pliskova tweeted.

In Madrid, Pliskova has made eight main draw appearances throughout her career.

Pliskova's best Madrid result came in 2018, when she made the semifinal before losing to Petra Kvitova.

Pliskova was a set away from beating Swiatek

In her first clay tournament of the year, Pliskova clinched two notable wins over Maria Sakkari and Donna Vekic.

After beating Sakkari and Vekic, Pliskova also got off to a great start to the match against Swiatek as she started with back-to-back breaks and a 4-0 lead before winning the first set with a 6-4 score. But Pliskova couldn't keep the same level of play for the entire match as Swiatek came back to beat Pliskova 4-6 6-1 6-2.

After the match, Swiatek admitted it took her some time before she found her game against Pliskova. "Overall I felt like at the beginning I couldn't really focus. When she's serving, these are like really milliseconds that matter.

So I feel like I was playing already good tennis at the end of the first set, but it was already too late kind of to even the score," Swiatek said after beating Pliskova. It remains to be seen if Pliskova will make her return at the Italian Open in Rome.

Karolina Pliskova Iga Swiatek