Sun Yingsha has pulled out of WTT Champions Frankfurt, which starts on Tuesday, a day after she won the women's title at WTT Champions Montpellier.
Poland's Natalia Bajor, the world No 43, takes her place at the top of the women's draw and plays Australia's Yangzi Liu, the world No 42, on Wednesday at about 3.05pm UK time. Chinese media, citing WTT's updated entry list, reported that Sun had withdrawn injured. No details of the injury have been given.
Three long days in Montpellier
Sun, the world No 2, played three matches over Saturday and Sunday in Montpellier, and two of them went the full seven games. She beat Japan's Hina Hayata 11-9 in the seventh game of their quarter-final, in a match that lasted one hour 18 minutes, the longest of the tournament.
On Sunday morning she led the defending champion, Wang Yidi, 3-0 in the semi-finals, lost the next three games and then took the decider 11-2. In the evening she lost the first game of the final to Kuai Man before winning 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6 in 38 minutes.
After the final Sun said her form had been up and down because of injury and other physical problems, The Paper reported, and that she had gained a great deal from the week.
Without the world's top two
Her withdrawal means the women's draw in Frankfurt has lost both of the world's top two players. Wang Manyu, the world No 1, withdrew injured on Sunday, along with Lin Shidong, France's Alexis Lebrun and Elizabet Abraamian.
Miwa Harimoto, the world No 3 and second seed, is now the highest-ranked woman in the draw. She lost to Kuai in the quarter-finals in Montpellier and opens against Austria's Sofia Polcanova in the first match of the tournament at 11am UK time on Tuesday.
China still have four women in the draw: Wang Yidi, the third seed and world No 4; Kuai, the fourth seed and world No 5; Chen Xingtong, the sixth seed; and the Asian champion Chen Yi, the eighth seed. China's five men are unchanged: Wang Chuqin, who returns from injury, Zhou Qihao, Wen Ruibo, Xiang Peng and Liang Jingkun, who replaced Lin.
An open top quarter
Sun's departure leaves the top quarter of the women's draw without a player from the top four seeds. Its highest seed is Japan's Hitomi Sato, the seventh seed and world No 8, who plays her teammate Satsuki Odo, the world No 13, on Wednesday at about 1.20pm UK time.
The winner of Bajor against Liu meets either Egypt's Hana Goda, the African champion, or France's Jia Nan Yuan in the last 16. Goda and Yuan play on Tuesday evening. Taiwan's Peng Yu-han and Romania's Bernadette Szőcs, who meet on Tuesday, are also in that quarter.
What happens next
The tournament starts at the Süwag Energie Arena at 11am UK time on Tuesday 3 November, with the first round spread over three days. The last 16 begins on Thursday evening, and both finals are on Sunday 8 November.
The draw, schedule and live scores are on Eleven's WTT Champions Frankfurt page. Read our WTT Champions Frankfurt preview and the WTT Champions Montpellier finals review.
