General / Editor / 08 March 2007 /

Elena Dementieva, last year's beaten finalist, has pulled out of the Pacific Life Open with a rib injury which is expected to sideline her for six weeks.

The fifth seed had to withdraw in the second set of her Diamond Games match against Elena Likhovtseva in Antwerp last month with the same problem.

"I really wanted to play here having got to the final last year," said the Russian.

"I did a lot of work before coming here but it's hard to breathe and you have pain even when you are not playing."
Lucky loser Anastassia Rodionova has been entered into the 128-strong draw for the event in California in place of Dementieva, who was beaten by Maria Sharapova last year.

Rodionova will play Emma Laine in the opening round of the Indian Wells Tennis tournament, while Dementieva's bye to the second round goes to Sybille Bammer.

Sharapova is currently trading at 1.04 to see off her opponent, Michaella Krajicek, in the second round and can also be backed as the favourite at 2.94 to retain her title in the Winner's market.

World number four Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova are next up in the market at 8.2, while Martina Hingis, who faces Caroline Wozniacki, can be backed at 16.5 to win the tournament.

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