French Open finalist Dinara Safina will represent Russia in the Olympic tennis tournament after Anna Chakvetadze decided against going to Beijing.

"Chakvetadze had asked not to include her in the team," Russian tennis chief Shamil Tarpishchev told Reuters on Monday.

World No 9 Safina will join Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva, ranked No 2, 4 and 5 in the world respectively, in the Russian Olympic team.

Safina, at ninth a place below Chakvetadze in the rankings, would have missed the August Olympics despite her fine showing in Paris earlier this month because of the strength among Russian women.

But Chakvetadze has struggled for form this season following an armed robbery at her Moscow house late last year.

She escaped unharmed but later admitted she was still suffering mental stress from the ordeal. Her father Jamal, a wealthy Russian bussinessman, was badly beaten up.

She lost in the second round at the French Open.

"Anna has no plans to compete in Beijing because her current form is far from ideal," Chakvetadze's mother was quoted as saying by the Allsport news agency.

The men's team will be picked according to the players' rankings, Tarpishchev said, meaning world No 4 Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Youzhny (17), Dmitry Tursunov (33) and Igor Andreev (37) will play singles in Beijing.

France picks Pierce

Mary Pierce will represent France at the Olympic Games in August despite an injury that has kept her out of action since November 2006, the French Tennis Federation said on Monday.

Alize Cornet, Tatiana Golovin and Virginie Razzano complete the French team's singles lineup after top-ranked player Marion Bartoli made herself unavailable for selection.

Cornet will play alongside Razzano in the doubles while Golovin will partner former world No 1 Amelie Mauresmo.

In the men's, the four singles players will be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils. Richard Gasquet, the world No 10, ruled himself out of selection last month.

Michael Llodra will partner Arnaud Clement in the doubles while Tsonga and Monfils make up the second pairing.

(Agencies via China Daily June 25, 2008)