C79E1BB4-21B3-4079-9993-F931E1BFF08B
By Adrianna Outlaw
© Natasha Peterson/Corleve
(August 13, 2010) Venus Williams has joined sister Serena in stepping out of Montreal. The fourth-ranked Williams withdrew from next week's Rogers Cup citing the left knee injury that forced her out of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati this week. Williams has not played a match since she was upset by 82nd-ranked Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on June 29th.
Venus said she had looked forward to playing Montreal "but the pain that I am experiencing in my knee has unfortunately not gone away."
World No. 1 Serena has not played a match since she swept Vera Zvonareva in the Wimbledon final to capture her 13th career Grand Slam championship last month. The Williams sisters' status for the US Open, which begins on August 30th, is unknown at this point. Serena, who stepped on glass and has been sidelined with a foot injury, has suggested she will return to play the season's final Grand Slam.
The Pilot Pen in New Haven offered Serena a wild card, but her agent, Jill Smoller, said the reigning Australian Open champion has no plans to play New Haven. Pilot Pen tennis tournament director Anne Worcester has one wild card remaining and could offer it to Venus, if she recovers in time to play the final US Open Series event.
Venus Williams would have been seeded third in Montreal.
Second-ranked Serbian Jelena Jankovic, who has complained of lingering pain from an ankle injury, is seeded first in Montreal.
Caroline Wozniacki, ranked third in the world, is the No. 2 seed, ahead of Russia's Elena Dementieva, Kim Clijsters, French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, Vera Zvonareva and China's Na Li.
These top eight women have all received a first-round bye at a tournament scheduled to feature 40 of the world's top 45-ranked players. Roland Garros finalist Samantha Stosur has pulled out of the tournament due to a right arm injury.
Maria Sharapova, the 2009 Rogers Cup runner-up, is seeded 12th and will play left-hander Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in the opening round.