Maria ready for Action in Indian Wells!

Defending champion Maria Sharapova is raring to get down to business at Indian Wells after spending the last four weeks on the sidelines because of a hamstring injury.

The Russian has not played since retiring at the semi-final stage of the Pan Pacific Open last month but says her hamstring problem has completely healed at this stage. "It's good," she replied, when asked by reporters how her injury is. "It was a little worrying after I got back from Tokyo because it wasn't really going anywhere. It stayed the same for a week or so.

"But then it started getting better and I've been training fully for about 10 to 12 days now," she added. Maria will have to come through a tough draw if she is to retain her title, however. One player who misses out is fifth seed Elena Dementieva, who withdrew from the tournament after a rib injury failed to heal in time. The Russian, who was runner-up at Indian Wells last year, expects to be out of action for up to six weeks. "I really wanted to play here having got to the final last year," she said."I did a lot of work before I came here but it's hard to breathe when you have a rib injury and you have pain even when you are not playing. "There's nothing they can do - pain-killers don't really help."

Maria Sharapova to play in Japan in the Pan Pacific Open

Maria Sharapova has confirmed that she will play in the Pan Pacific Open event in January 2007. The former Wimbledon champion will be one of three top-10 Female Players to feature in the Tokyo tournament, which comes off the back of the first Grand Slam event of the season, the Australian Open.

Martina Hingis, seventh in the WTA rankings, and Russia's Elena Dementieva will also feature in the Pan Pacific event, but much of the focus will be on Maria.

Maria Sharapova will go in search of her second Pan Pacific title having claimed victory in 2005 and is likely to start the tournament as favourite. The Japanese tournament starts on January 30, just a couple of days after the conclusion of the Australian Open, in which Maria Sharapova will be hoping to improve on her best finish having reached the semi-final stage in 2005 and 2006.

Maria back in Japan to defend Pan Pacific Title

Maria Sharapova will defend her title of the Pan Pacific Open tournament to start on Tuesday. Maria won her first career title at the Japan Open in 2003 and took her third title in Tokyo a year ago.

She will play her first match against a qualifier in the top half, which also includes sixth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, third seed Nathalie Dechy of France and eighth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Montenegro.

Maria Sharapova will return to Tokyo next January to defend the $1.3 million Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament.

“To all Japanese fans, many thanks for your great support in the Pan Pacific Open 2005. I’m looking forward to coming back to the Pan Pacific Open 2006 as a defending champion,” said Maria in a written message to the organisers.

Tokyo is a good hunting ground for Maria Sharapova, who captured her first WTA singles and doubles titles at the Japan Open in October 2003 and defended it last year. She went on to win the “Tier I” event here one of the 10 biggest tournaments other than the four Grand Slams and the season-ending championship by beating American world number one Lindsay Davenport in the final. Tournament director Toshio Noji said: “Previously in this tournament, the champion eventually became the world number one at the end of each year. Hopefully, Maria will come back to Tokyo as the new world number one.”