Dubai: World number one and top seed Victoria Azarenka has announced her withdrawal from the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open due to an injured ankle.

Azarenka appeared before the media at around 3 pm [UAE time] and said she had to take the painful decision to withdraw as she could not afford to compromise on her health.

The top seed was scheduled to play her second round match against Julia Goerges of Germany at 7 pm.

Last week, China’s Li Na had pulled up, also due to injury and this was followed by the news that second seed and world number three Petra Kvitova was not traveling to this tournament.