Three-Time Grand Slam Champion Maria Sharapova,Davydenko Out Of Miami

MIAMI : Three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova will miss the Sony Ericsson Open, as will women’s world number two Dinara Safina and 2008 men’s champion Nikolay Davydenko, organizers said Wednesday.

The Miami tournament is the second of prestigious back-to-back hardcourt tournaments in the United States, coming immediately after this week’s event at Indian Wells, California.

Sharapova, who won the WTA title in Memphis in February, had been slated to play in Miami for the first time since 2007.

But an MRI exam on the sore right elbow that hindered her as she made a third-round exit in Indian Wells showed a bone bruise that is likely to sideline the Russian for three to six weeks.

Safina, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, remains sidelined by the back injury that forced her out of the Australian Open.

Davydenko is out with a broken left wrist. He had played one match at Indian Wells and then pulled out after an MRI revealed the wrist he injured in Rotterdam last month was, in fact, fractured.