David Ferrer (centre) and Richard Gasquet (right) visit Camp Nou in Barcelona on Tuesday
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The Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell – an ATP 500 event – lost two of its biggest stars on Tuesday as third seed David Ferrer and fourth seed Richard Gasquet both made last-minute withdrawals ahead of their opening matches. World No. 8 Ferrer has not yet recovered from a calf injury that had ruled him out of last week’s Monte Carlo Masters as well.
The 34-year-old has fallen victim to a recent spate of injuries that saw him play just two matches after February. The Spaniard has been replaced by World No. 17 Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who is now set to face qualifier Radek Stepanek in the second round.
Ferrer was in top seed Rafael Nadal’s half of the draw and was scheduled to meet him in the semi-finals.
The 10th ranked Gasquet, meanwhile, is suffering from a back problem that had also kept him out of the Australian Open in January. Renzo Olivo of Argentina, ranked 167th, substituted the Frenchman but he could not capitalize on it as he lost 1-6, 6-4, 3-6 to Malek Jaziri on Wednesday.
Both Ferrer and Gasquet are expected to return to the Tour at the Masters event in Madrid, beginning May 1.
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About the author
Sudeshna Banerjee
Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.
Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.
Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.
When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.
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