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Shoulder pain forces Sharapova out of St Petersburg

Shoulder pain forces Sharapova out of St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG: 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.

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.

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M M Alam

M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career four decades ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.