February 25, 2011
Tennis glamour girls Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic have pulled out of the WTA Qatar Ladies Open beginning on Monday, it emerged yesterday.
Russian Sharapova, a two-time winner in Qatar, has still not recovered from a virus she contracted before the Paris Indoors two weeks ago, while Serbian Ivanovic seems to have had a change of plans after crashing to a first round defeat in the Dubai Open on Tuesday.
The absence of the two crowd pullers have taken away much of the charm from the tournament which is making a comeback to Doha after three years during which Qatar hosted the more prestigious season-ending championships.
The Qatar Tennis Federation had also announced Justine Henin’s name in the initial list of participants, but the Belgian suddenly announced her retirement for the second time during the Australian Open.
However, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, who regained her World No. 1 ranking after losing it to Kim Clijsters briefly, will make the short flight to Doha from the UAE where she defeated Israel’s Shahar Peer yesterday for a spot in the semi-finals of the Dubai Open.
Challenge for Wozniacki in Qatar would come mainly from Australian Open runner-up Li Na of China and Italian Francesca Schiavone.
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