Serena, Ivanovic pull out of Doha event

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:08

American Williams was set to take on Elena Dementieva on Friday, with the winner set to progress to the semi-finals, but pulled out with a stomach muscle injury.

Williams, who lost 7-5 1-6 0-6 to sister Venus on Thursday, said: “Once I felt the pain I was like, “red flags”. I’m having a great time, a great career. I’m doing so well, it’s not worth it.”

She added: “When I practised I was in pain when I played the groundstrokes so I didn’t want to risk it.”

Serbian Ivanovic also withdrew before her final round-robin game against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

A statement on the French Open champion’s website read: “Ana has withdrawn from the Sony Ericsson Championships due to a virus.”

Ivanovic was on her way out of the tournament anyway as he had lost her first two matches to Jelena Jankovic and Vera Zvonareva.

The four players through to the semi-finals are Jankovic, Zvonareva, Venus Williams and Dementieva.

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