WTA Doha: Simona Halep, Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin cancel their participation
Simona Halep , Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin will all not take part in the WTA 500 tournament in Doha.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Feb 23, 2021, 08:55 pm
On the men's side, the ATP 500 tournament in Rotterdam is the first highlight on the agenda after the Australian Open next week, while the women's WTA 500 event will take place from March 1st in Doha .
However, the organizers had to accept three bitter rejections. Simona Halep, Bianca Andreescu and Sofia Kenin will not compete in the capital of Qatar. The three Grand Slam winners are not participating in the tournament for different reasons.
Halep will not be flying to Doha due to exhaustion and the corona-related travel restrictions in Romania. With Andreescu and Kenin, however, physical problems are the reason for the respective cancellation: The Canadian US Open winner of 2019 is struggling with an injury on her left leg , the US Australian Open champion of the preseason recently underwent one Appendectomy and is not yet at 100 percent.
The field of participants in Doha is still more than impressive: The field is led by world number one Ashleigh Barty, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova and Aryna Sabalenka will also play at the Persian Gulf tournament.