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PERTH, Australia: US Open winner Serena Williams has withdrawn from next month's Hopman Cup mixed teams event due to a hamstring injury, organisers said here on Monday.
The World No.2 injured her hamstring in the year-ending WTA Championships and has not been able to recover in time to prepare for the Perth tournament, although she still intends to play the Australian Open later in January, organisers said.
World No.10 James Blake will now be partnered by Meghann Shaughnessy, who played in the Hopman Cup last year and defeated Sania Mirza of India.
Shaughnessy, winner of six singles and 15 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, has had an injury-plagued year but the United States will remain the top seeds for the January 3-9 event.
Organisers said Russian star Marat Safin has shelved retirement plans and has committed to play in the Hopman Cup. Safin will team up with his sister and World No. 3 Dinara Safina, with Russia the second seeds.
US is the most successful nation in the 20-year history of the Hopman Cup having won the event five times.
Teams: US (Meghann Shaughnessy/James Blake x1), Russia (Marat Safin/Dinara Safina x2), France (Alize Cornet/Gilles Simon x3), Australia (Casey Dellacqua/Lleyton Hewitt x4), Italy (Simone Bolelli/Flavia Pennetta x5), Germany (Sabine Lisicki/Nicolas Kiefer x6), Slovak Republic (Dominika Cibulkova/Dominik Hrbaty x7), Taiwan (Su-Wei Hsieh/Lu Yen-Hsun x8).
- AFP/so
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