Injured Sharapova withdraws from Brisbane International

A forearm injury forced her out of a tournament in Japan in October but she managed to play the WTA Finals and the Fed Cup final for Russian Federation.

“I did an MRI and it’s nothing unsafe, but it’s still an inflammation”, Halep said. However, as is the case with many Grand Slams, winning at Melbourne Park later this month may not just be about talent. Really pushing myself beyond the limits.

“There were lots of positives I could take out of that”. Ukraine improved to 2-0 in the group with a win over Czech Republic.

Other top 10 women joined Williams on the injured list.

As the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open kicks off in two weeks, but both defending champion Maria Sharapova and top-seeded Simona Halep have announced their withdrawal from Brisbane International just hours before their first-round match-ups in order to be fully healthy for the grand slam, which starts on January 18th.

Former No.1-ranked players Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic were due on court later Tuesday.

The Russian cited a left forearm injury which she hurt in practice and withdrew from the tournament as a precautionary move with the Australian Open coming up.

A lucky loser will be named to play Makarova later on Tuesday on Pat Rafter Arena.

Maria Sharapova withdrew from her season-opening event at the Brisbane International rather than risk further damage to a sore left forearm ahead of the Australian Open.

Azarenka said she was looking forward to playing Halep. “I think it will be a nice match”. She’ll meet either 2009 champion Azarenka or Ysaline Bonaventure in the last eight.

Also advancing were No. 6-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro, who beat Sam Stosur 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-4, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who held off Alize Cornet 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

Eighth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria beat Australian wildcard James Duckworth 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, and Czech veteran Radek Stepanek thumped young Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-0, 6-3.

In the men’s draw, sixth seeded Belgian David Goffin was impressive in his 6-4, 6-4 win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, while Serb Viktor Troicki downed Steve Johnson of the United States 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.