Safarova out of China Open with wrist injury

Lucie Safarova, the women's doubles world number one, said 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.