Salazar's Malaga farewell run ends in round one as Caldera and Goenaga upset the No. 8 seeds

Alejandra Salazar's farewell season hit an early wall in Malaga. The No. 8 seeds Salazar and Aranzazu Osoro lost their opening match at the Malaga P1 on Wednesday, beaten 6-4, 6-3 by the unseeded pair of Bea Caldera and Carmen Goenaga at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena.

It was the first match Salazar and Osoro had played as a team. Salazar, a former world No. 1 who is retiring at the end of 2026, paired with the Argentine Osoro for this run after closing her project with Alejandra Alonso. The new partnership showed its seams. Caldera and Goenaga controlled the rhythm and closed it out in 1 hour 38 minutes.

A brand-new pair, no time to gel

That's the risk of a fresh combination at this level. Salazar and Osoro had barely trained together, and it showed against opponents who kept the ball in play and forced the errors. Caldera and Goenaga were the only unseeded pair to knock out a seeded one on the day.

What it means for the farewell tour

Salazar has said this is her last season, and Malaga was always going to be an emotional stop on home soil. Instead of a deep run, she's out in the first round, with the tournament's favorites yet to make their own debuts later in the week. The men's and women's draws roll on toward Sunday's finals on July 19.