Bianca Andreescu's return hits stumbling block, withdraws from Rabat Open return alongside Paula Badosa and Simona Halep

The Rabat Open (Grand Prix de Son Altesse Royale La Princesse Lalla Meryem) have not had the best day or so prior to the draw getting confirmed with Bianca Andreescu, Paula Badosa and Simona Halep among five late withdrawals from the tournament.

Andreescu had long been mooted to play in the tournament. She has not played on tour since last August. The popular Canadian suffered with a stress fracture in her back. She was expected to be back sooner, but had to keep halting her return.

The 23-year-old former US Open champion set a return date of Roland Garros and also set her sights on the Olympic Games earlier this year and was announced for Rabat in due course. She has also already entered grass court tournaments for post French Open.

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Spotted in Monaco training, Andreescu was also at the Monaco Grand Prix in F1. But she will not play over the next week with the tournament starting on May 20 in a blow for Andreescu and the tournament. Whether she plays at Roland Garros now remains to be seen.

The other two are perhaps not unexpected. Paula Badosa showed some real glimmers of hope during the Rome Open before losing to Coco Gauff. But has not played multiple matches in a week for a long time after sustaining a stress fracture herself this time last year. She has been touch and go with injections needed to continue her career on a regular basis. It seems likely that with Roland Garros on the horizon, all efforts go into that.

Halep on the other hand got injured this week at the Trophee´ Clarins in Paris. She was left clutching her knee as she retired a set up against McCartney Kessler. She will now return seemingly during the grass court portion of the season. No wildcard was handed out for Roland Garros and she may also find a struggle with Wimbledon. This for similar reasons to Roland Garros with Maria Sharapova who priorly served a doping ban finding it difficult to get one herself.

Also not playing Rabat are Greet Minnen and Jaqueline Cristian with the top seeds remaining being Yue Yuan, Anna Blinkova, Sara Sorribes Tormo and Lucia Bronzetti in a pretty diminished field for the Roland Garros warm-up.

Melanie Lautrup

@melanie_lautrup

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So the players who withdrew before the main draw are: 🇨🇦Andreescu 🇧🇪Minnen 🇷🇴Cristian 🇪🇸Badosa 🇷🇴Halep

Melanie Lautrup

@melanie_lautrup

Rabat WTA 250 | Main Draw Top seeds: Yue Yuan, Blinkova, Sorribes Tormo, Bronzetti

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