Injured Sharapova withdraws from Brisbane International

Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from her season-opening event at the Brisbane International because of an injury to her left forearm.

Sharapova, the defending champion, was scheduled to play fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova on Tuesday at the Australian Open warm-up event but withdrew hours before the match.

She said she’d hurt her forearm in practice a couple of days earlier and needed to withdraw as a precaution ahead of the Australian Open, the first major of the season that starts January 18 in Melbourne.

Sharapova won the Brisbane and Rome titles in 2015 and lost the final of the Australian Open to Serena Williams, who added the French Open and Wimbledon titles and was two match victories from a season Grand Slam when she lost to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals.

Williams withdrew from her season-opening match at the Hopman Cup in Perth on Monday because of inflammation in her knee, but was hoping to be fit to play for the U.S. team against Australia Gold on Tuesday.

Vinci, meanwhile, moved into the Brisbane International quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over 2014 Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova. She’ll meet either top-seeded Simona Halep or 2009 champion Victoria Azarenka in the last eight.

At the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone lost 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 to Austrian qualifier Tamira Paszek in a first-round match that lasted almost three hours.

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