Madison Keys has withdrawn from the Madrid Open because of illness, leaving her red-clay campaign on hold again. The world No. 17 was set to compete in Madrid’s main draw, but Anastasia Potapova now replaces her in the fourth quarter of the bracket and will meet Zhang Shuai in the second round.
The American’s exit adds another seed to the list of players who have already pulled out of the event. Amanda Anisimova, the No. 6 seed, and No. 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova also withdrew because of injury.
Keys opened her clay season in Charleston a few weeks ago and reached the semifinals there. That result stands as her best in 2026 so far, and it included her highest-ranked win of the season against Belinda Bencic.
Madrid has been one of Keys’ stronger stops on clay
Madrid has delivered some of Keys’ deepest runs in recent seasons. She reached the semifinals in 2024 and the quarterfinals in 2025, making the tournament one of her most successful clay-court events.
Her withdrawal means her clay debut on red dirt will now wait until the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, where she is next scheduled to compete in May. That pushes back a key part of her build-up on the surface as the European clay swing continues.
Keys has already shown solid form this season beyond Charleston. She also reached the quarterfinals in Brisbane and Adelaide, and made the fourth round at the Australian Open.
She entered both Adelaide and Melbourne as the defending champion, underlining the strong start to her season before the illness forced her out of Madrid. Her absence also comes amid a broader list of withdrawals ahead of the main draw, including Sonay Kartal, Varvara Gracheva, Maya Joint, Emma Navarro, Emma Raducanu and Marketa Vondrousova.
