BRISBANE, Australia – Defending champion Maria Sharapova and top-seeded Simona Halep withdrew from the Australian Open warmup tournament in Brisbane within an hour of each other and without playing a match.
Sharapova was scheduled to play fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova on Tuesday but withdrew hours before the first-round match rather than risk further damage to a sore left forearm ahead of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.
The five-time major winner said she’d hurt her forearm in practice a couple of days earlier and had to withdraw as a precaution. Her place in the draw was taken by Margarita Gasparyan.
Halep had a first-round bye and withdrew a day ahead of her scheduled opening match against Victoria Azarenka because of a problem with her left Achilles.