Safarova out of Beijing with wrist injury

Prague - Lucie Safarova, the women's doubles world No 1, said on Thursday she was pulling out of the China Open in Beijing starting on Saturday because of a wrist injury.

The 30-year-old Czech, ranked 29th in singles, has already skipped the ongoing Wuhan Open.

"I'm sad to announce I won't be coming to Beijing for the China Open this year," Safarova said on Instagram.

"My wrist injury still doesn't allow me to come back on court."

Together with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Safarova won at both Wuhan and Beijing last year.

Following Mattek-Sands' serious knee injury at Wimbledon, Safarova climbed to the doubles number one post, replacing her American partner.

But she will lose that honour to former world singles number one Martina Hingis on Monday because of the loss of points from China.

Safarova reached the US Open semi-finals with her compatriot Barbora Strycova earlier in September.

The last tournament she played was Quebec City two weeks ago, where she reached the singles semi-finals as the top seed.

I'm sad to announce I won't be coming to Beijing for @chinaopen this year. My wrist injury still doesnt allow me to come back on court. ????

A post shared by Lucie Safarova (@lucie.safarova) on Sep 28, 2017 at 8:35am PDT