Wellington—US Open champion Bianca Andreescu on Tuesday pulled out of her Australian Open warm-up tournament, the Auckland WTA Classic, as she continues to be plagued by a knee injury.
The Canadian 19-year-old sensation, who rocketed through the rankings from 152 to number five in the world this year and referred to 2019 as her “Cinderella story”, was billed as the top-seed in Auckland.
But she has been forced out by “ongoing knee issues”, tournament organisers said in a brief statement with no mention on whether her start in the Australian Open was also in jeopardy.
Andreescu won three prestigious titles this year—Indian Wells, Toronto and at the US Open—before her season was cut short by injury.
She spent nearly seven weeks off the court after her knee gave way during the WTA Finals in Shenzhen in early November, but told reporters earlier this month she did not need surgery and was “just trying to rehab as much as possible and stay as positive as I can.”
Serena Williams will now become the top seed in the Auckland tournament which starts on January 6.
Meanwhile, France’s Lucas Pouille, ranked 22 in the world, on Monday withdrew from the Australian Open as he continues to recover from an elbow injury.
“It’s a massive disappointment for me to announced that I will not be able to take part in the first-ever ATP Cup event or the Adelaide tournament and above all I will not participate in the Australian Open,” Pouille announced.
The 25-year-old Dubai-based player ended his 2019 season in mid-October because of an injury to his right elbow which also saw him miss the Davis Cup.
“As you can imagine, I’m extremely disappointed and sad to mis the start of the year, but the season is long, the career is long and now my goal is to be 100 percent competitive as quickly as possible,” said Pouille, who reached a career-high 10th place ranking in March 2018.
