Serena pulls out; Radwanska into Dubai QFs

Published January 13, 2015

After officially returning to the top of the women's rankings this week, Serena Williams decided to pull out of the Dubai Tennis Championships because of a lower back injury.

The reigning Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic champion actually took over the No. 1 ranking last week in Qatar, marking the sixth time in her career she has been the top-ranked woman in the world. In doing so, the 31-year-old Williams became the oldest-ever No. 1.

A second-seeded Williams was scheduled to meet former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli on Wednesday. The wild card Bartoli, instead, received a walkover into the quarterfinals.

Former No. 1 and 2010 runner-up Victoria Azarenka pulled out of Dubai on Tuesday, citing a foot injury. The Australian Open titlist beat Williams in last week's marquee 1-versus-2 final in Doha.

On the court Wednesday, third-seeded reigning Dubai champion and 2012 Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska handled promising 18-year-old Kazakhstani wild card Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-3 and sixth-seeded former Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova doused former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 7-6 (7-1).

Radwanska beat German Julia Goerges in last year's Dubai finale.

A Day-3 upset came when Italian Roberta Vinci took our fourth-seeded German left-hander Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-1.

In other second-round matches involving seeds, No. 5 French Open runner-up Sara Errani of Italy dismissed Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-4, No. 7 former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur whipped Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4, 6-0 and No. 8 former top-ranked star Caroline Wozniacki dismantled Chinese qualifier Zheng Jie 6-0, 6-1.

Also, Russian Nadia Petrova leveled Spanish lucky-loser Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-0. Suarez Navarro replaced Azarenka in the field.

Friday's quarterfinals will pit Radwanska against Kvitova, Errani versus Petrova, Stosur against Vinci, and the 2011 Dubai runner-up Wozniacki versus Bartoli.

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