British No. 1 Emma Raducanu and defending champion Amanda Anisimova both pulled out of their first-round matches at the 2026 WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Monday due to illness.
Absolutely, I think this is not the way we want to win, although I felt like we were playing good tennis all along [first] two sets. It took a long time, so you start to feel it a bit in the body – I feel it a bit too – luckily I’m through to the next round. Karolina Pliskova
Raducanu reached the final of the Transylvania Open in Romania on Saturday but had little left in the tank after a marathon semi-final the day before, and she succumbed to a rampant Sorana Cirstea in just 63 minutes, later admitting she was tired and battling illness all week.
She described the race as ‘very difficult, emotionally and physically’, but still made the journey from Cluj-Napoca to Doha and was on the court on Monday evening.
Despite the concerns, Raducanu looked in good form and far from tired against Colombia’s Camila Osorio at the start of the match.
World number 25 Raducanu, who split from her coach Francisco Roig after her second-round exit at the Australian Open, made a positive start, building on an early break to go ahead and end the first set 6-2 in 38 minutes against the world number 80.
The Briton had beaten Osorio at the Hobart International last month and was dominant for parts of the opener, losing her serve just once while breaking her opponent three times.
Osorio won a WTA Challenger event in Manila last month and regrouped for a second time just as Raducanu struggled to maintain her range from the baseline.
The Colombian woman’s mounting pressure on the Briton soon showed as she broke and then held to take the lead 4-2, before maintaining her momentum to take the set, 6-4, and level the match.
Raducanu was broken again at the start of the decider, opting not to chase a drop shot towards the net, before calling for a medical timeout.
After a lengthy consultation with the trainer and a doctor, who checked her blood pressure, the 23-year-old returned to the court, but then quickly lost the second game to Love, walking back to the net to shake Osorio’s hand and withdraw, throwing in the towel with the score at 2-6, 6-4, 2-0 Ret. in favor of the Colombian.
Raducanu is still one spot higher than number 24 in the live rankings for now, although many players can still overtake her with strong campaigns in the next five days.
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The same fate befell American Amanda Anisimova, the defending champion who withdrew against former Doha semi-finalist Karolina Pliskova 5-7 7-6(3), 4-1 Ret. to the Czech.
Anisimova started her landmark 2025 season with her run to a maiden WTA 1000 title here last year, beating Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the final to move the American into the Top 20, and she arrived in Doha as the world No. 4 and third seed.
Despite claiming a tight opening set, Anisimova could not fend off Pliskova, who returns to tour after a lengthy injury absence.
“Definitely, I don’t think this is the way we want to win, although I felt like we’ve been playing good tennis all this time. [first] two sets,” said Pliskova, speaking on court. “It took a long time, so you start to feel it a little bit in the body – I feel it a little bit too – luckily I’m through to the next round.”
Anisimova led by a set and a break at the halfway point, but began to struggle physically as the second set progressed.
When Plískova came through the tight breaker to clinch the set and level the match, the American’s condition visibly deteriorated and she had her blood pressure checked while trailing 2-1 in the decider.
From then on, Anisimova was unable to chase balls, and two short games later she shook Pliskova’s hand at the net to end the match and her defense of the Qatar Open title due to illness.
The early loss is disappointing for the 24-year-old and sees her drop out of the Top 5 of the rankings after she enjoyed the best season of her career, reaching two Grand Slam finals before winning another WTA 1000 title at the China Open in Beijing.
Anisimova had a whopping 1,000 points to defend in Doha this year, but with just 10 ranking points for players exiting the WTA 1000 event in their opening match, the American will now drop 990, giving her a total of 5,690 points when the rankings are updated next week, ensuring Coco Gauff regains her US No. 1 ranking.
Current world number 5 Jessica Pegula, who withdrew from Doha last week, will also face Anisimova next week despite not playing.
Meanwhile, Pliskova, who has a career-high world ranking and has won 17 WTA Tour titles, is returning from a serious left foot injury suffered at the 2024 US Open that required two operations on her ankle and has played just six tour-level matches, all in 2026.
The 33-year-old Czech is waiting for the winner of the match between compatriots Karolina Muchova, the fourteenth seed, and qualifying player Tereza Valentova, who play against each other on Tuesday.
Valentova ended the hopes of Alex Eala of the Philippines 7-5 6-1 on Monday, the second time she has beaten her in six months, and improved to 2-0 overall. in their head-to-head record.
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