Nadia Petrova withdraws from Australian Open after mother's death

Russian tennis star Nadia Petrova has reportedly pulled out of the upcoming Australian Open in January after her mother died in a car accident.

Petrova's mother Nadezhda Ilyina, an Olympic athletics bronze medallist, died in a car crash near Moscow on December 7.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Open organisers offered their condolences to Petrova, who was one of the two players withdrawing from the tournament.

Also out of the season-opening grand slam in Melbourne is another top Russian player, Maria Kirilenko, due to injury.

Ilyina, a successful 400-metre runner, won a bronze in the 4x400 relay in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and had also held the USSR record in both the 400 metres and the 4x400 metres relay as well as the world record for 400 metres indoors, the report added.