Three WTA doubles teams retire within 2 days at Italian Open
The Italian Open WTA doubles draw has been a fun one to follow. However, in the past two days, three teams have opted out of the tournament for different reasons. Two of the teams are comprised of singles players, and that is always the argument about doubles in high level tennis tournaments.
Are the singles players taking spots that traditional doubles teams could use to earn more money and gain ranking points? MORE: Andrey Rublev shares honest feelings about facing Jannik Sinner in Italian Open quarterfinals Who is out at Italian Open On Tuesday, the defending champion team of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini pulled out of the tournament. This was a painful decision because they are the top ranked team with home field advantage, and were trying to defend last year’s title.
The reason for the withdrawal was a foot injury for Paolini which she needs to manage as the French Open draws closer. MORE: Andy Murray will be at Wimbledon in a surprising capacity The Romanian team of Sorana Cirstea and Jaqueline Cristian withdrew on Wednesday. While no reason has been officially released, 36-year-old Cirstea is having the tournament of her life, defeating WTA World No.
1 Aryna Sabalenka , and has advanced into the semifinals in singles. She is likely preserving her body and energy for Thursday’s match against Coco Gauff. Cirstea and Cristian were slated to play Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova who in their previous round had a last minute opponent change from Leylah Fernandez and Elisabetta Cocciaretto to Hailey Baptiste and Alexandra Eala .
Iva Jovic and Anna Kalinskaya also withdrew on Wednesday. Both Jovic and Kalinskaya are out of singles contention, and both are dealing with minor injuries. Who is in Townsend and Siniakova are the favorites to win.