Clijsters Drops Out of La Costa

The women's WTA event at La Costa, California, won't have  Kim Clijsters in the field starting a week from Monday but has added the three  young German players who are re-making the standing of the one-time tennis  power.

US Open champion Clijsters told officials she is still not fully  recovered form a June ankle injury which forced her to also miss Wimbledon and  is still concentrating on getting ready for the Open from August 29.

Also  out of the field is Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, with the world No. 7  suffering with a pulled abdominal muscle. "I am sorry I am unable to play this  year but I'm still recovering from an injury that happened at Wimbledon," said  the Czech.

But riding to the rescue are the Teutonic trio of Andrea  Petkovic, Julia Goerges and Sabine Lisicki. No. 11 Petkovic, captured her second  career WTA singles title in Brisbane, and reached quarter-finals at the  Australian and French Opens in 2011.

No. 16 Goerges holds the Stuttgart  clay title while 26th-ranked Lisicki won on grass at Birmingham and reached the  Wimbledon quarters in a revival of the German game which has taken off this  season.

The event also includes entries from No. 3 Vera Zvonareva,  defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic.