MADRID — World No. 17 Madison Keys pulled out of the 2026 Mutua Madrid Open on Friday morning, citing an illness. Lucky loser Anastasia Potapova replaced Keys in the fourth quarter of the draw, and defeated Zhang Shuai in the second round 6-3, 6-1 at the 11:00 a.m. match on Stadium 3 at La Caja Mágica.
“It was actually unexpected because I’ve been waiting for three days before and nothing happened,” Potapova said to wtatennis.com after the win. “Also the last three days, I didn’t really prepare myself to play a match.”
“I didn’t warm up, I didn’t do any practices, so today was the first morning when I went early to the stadium. I signed for the early warm-up. Literally when I was warming up on [practice] court, supervisor came said that ‘you’re going on at first match.’ It literally happened at 10:25 a.m.”
As for Keys, she began her WTA Driven by Mercedes-Benz clay-court season in Charleston a few weeks ago, reaching the semifinals. However, with her withdrawal, her red-clay debut this season will have to wait until the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, where she is next scheduled to compete in May. In Madrid, she reached the quarterfinals in 2025 and semifinals in 2024, her two top finishes at the event in her career.
The American becomes the third seeded player to pull out of the event, joining compatriot and No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova as well as No. 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who both pulled out due to injury. Keys’ semifinal run in the Lowcountry, where she earned her highest-ranked win in the season vs. Belinda Bencic, was her best so far in 2026.
Keys also had runs to the quarterfinals in Brisbane and Adelaide as well as the fourth round at the Australian Open. She entered as the defending champion in both Adelaide and Melbourne.
Prior to the main draw’s start, other withdrawals included Great Britain’s Sonay Kartal, who will miss the entire clay-court swing due to a back injury. France’s Varvara Gracheva will also miss the entire clay-court season after tearing her ACL in practice session in March. Furthermore, Australia’s Maya Joint (back), Emma Navarro (illness), Emma Raducanu and Marketa Vondrousouva also pulled out prior to the event.
