Paula Badosa, Karolina Muchova under fire as duo's past opponent Irina Khromacheva hits out at them and WTA after sudden China Open doubles withdrawal
Paula Badosa and Karolina Muchova’s latest move at the 2024 China Open has left their previous women’s doubles opponent, Irina Khromacheva, fuming. The duo recently handed a walkover to their second-round opponents, which prompted Khromacheva to hit out at the WTA.
Badosa and Muchova are competing at the ongoing WTA 1000 in Beijing. Both players have advanced to the fourth round in singles.
Paula Badosa, the 15th seed, has punched her ticket following victories over Viktoriya Tomova (6-3, 6-2) and Rebecca Sramkova (7-5, 7-5). Meanwhile, Karolina Muchova, who is unseeded, is through with wins over Anna Blinkova (6-1, 6-1), Yue Yuan (6-3, 6-1), and Jaqueline Cristian (6-1, 6-3).
The pair also participated in women’s doubles at the China Open, easily beating their first-round opponents Irina Khromacheva and Anna Danilina 6-3, 6-2. However, they withdrew from their next match against Veronika Kudermetova and Hao-ching Chan after making the fourth round in singles. This did not sit well with Khromacheva, who wrote a strongly-worded message calling out the WTA’s “completely crazy” rules.
"Bravo WTA… We lost to singles players in doubles in Beijing tournament. And second round they are pull out cause they don’t care about doubles but they continue to play singles this week," she wrote on Instagram.
"Completely crazy by taking place of teams who could enter and participate fully," the Russian added.
"Without respect to doubles players" - Irina Khromacheva recalls withdrawal similar to Paula Badosa and Karolina Muchova's at China Open 2024
Irina Khromacheva also recalled that she dealt with a similar situation earlier this year.
While the doubles No. 28 did not share the details, it should be noted that her Berlin campaign with partner Ekaterina Alexandrova ended similarly when Paula Badosa and Victoria Azarenka pulled out after their opening win as the latter reached the semifinals in singles.
"I had this situation twice this year that when they won first round, they’re pulling out …. Without respect to doubles players … And Also for people who are signing on-site trying to get in…." Khromacheva said in the aforementioned Instagram post.
She called out the seeming lack of respect on the WTA tour.
"Very nice rule. Plus tournament losing one match on the schedule … Respect in WTA tour, no didn’t heart it exists … CRAZY …." she wrote.
Following their women's doubles withdrawal, Paula Badosa faces Jessica Pegula for a spot in the singles quarterfinals on Tuesday, October 1, while Karolina Muchova takes on Cristina Bucsa on Wednesday.