World No 5 Bianca Andreescu of Canada and Great Britain’s Johanna Konta, the World No 14, have withdrawn from the Qatar Total Open 2020 as a result of knee injuries while USA’s Danielle Collins, ranked 50th, will also not feature due to an abdominal injury.
“I’m very sad to announce that I won’t be able to compete in the Qatar Total Open in Doha next week. I’m not at 100 % yet, and following my team and doctor’s recommendation I don’t want to take any risk to reinjure my knee. Each day I get closer to being back to the court competing, but Doha is just too soon. Hope I can come and play in Doha next year,” said Andreescu yesterday.
The latest development moves USA’s Jennifer Brady, Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, and Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova into the main draw.
The Qatar Total Open 2020 is featuring seven of the World top-ten players who are set to strut their stuff at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex from February 23-29, 2020.
For the qualifiers, Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas has also pulled out due to a yet to be confirmed injury. Russia’s duo of Liudmila Samsonova and Natalia Vikhlyantseva, as well as Belgium’s Ysaline Bonaventure, have now been placed in the qualifiers.
Tournament Director Saad al-Mohannadi said, “Though we would have loved to see Andreescu and the rest of the stars play at this year’s tournament, we, however, understand that their health is more important at this moment. We wish them a speedy recovery and also wish them the best as we look forward to welcoming them to Doha in the future.”
Qatar Total Open 2020 is the 18th edition of the annual WTA Premier 5 tournament and this year’s event carries a total prize purse of $2,939,695.
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