The 31-year-old Maria Sharapova has been struggling back to elite fitness since watching from the sidelines during a 15-month doping ban ended in 2017
Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova's ongoing right shoulder problems led her to pull out of the Saint Petersburg tournament, the organisers said on Wednesday. The 31-year-old has been struggling back to elite fitness since watching from the sidelines during a 15-month doping ban ended in 2017.
ADVERTISEMENT
The five-time major winner beat Daria Gavrilova of Australia 6-0, 6-4 in her debut in the tournament, but suffered with her shoulder injury afterwards. "I have worked hard for months to put it (her shoulder) in order, but to no avail," she said after her match with Gavrilova.
"I still have plenty of work to do." Sharapova's withdrawal opened the way into the last eight for third-seeded Daria Kasaatkina, who enjoyed an opening round bye. The former world number one Sharapova failed to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals earlier in January, but claimed she still believes she can increase her tally of five Slam titles.
Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
