American tennis star Lindsay Davenport has pulled out of the US$580,000 China Open WTA tournament, organizers said on Monday.

The second seed called the Beijing organizing committee from Bali, where she won the Wismilak International on Sunday, to notify her withdrawal citing a back injury.

Current world number one Maria Sharapova of Russia and American multiple Grand Slam champions Venus Williams and Serena Williams, the other three of top four seeds, all confirmed their appearance, with Serena showing up on the training court on Monday.

The WTA event in Beijing kicked off on Monday and Davenport had been drawn to face Japanese Akiko Morigami or Ai Sugiyama in the second round as all the top four seeds enjoyed first-round bye.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2005)