ROME, May 11: Swiss world number seven Martina Hingis has withdrawn from next week's Italian Open due to a back injury, the WTA tournament organisers said on Friday.

Hingis, who won the Rome title last year, suffered the injury in her straight sets third-round defeat to Patty Schnyder in Berlin on Thursday.

Hingis's place in Rome will be taken by Russian Vasilisa Bardina. Hingis is the second high-profile player to pull out of the Rome tournament - which runs May 14-20 - following Maria Sharapova's withdrawal on Wednesday because of a foot injury.

Hingis and Sharapova, the world number two, face a race against the clock to be fit in time for the French Open, the second Grand Slam of the Year, which starts on May 27. —AFP