Maria Sharapova announced that she will be forced to withdraw from the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, along with subsequent grass court tournaments, due to injury.

Maria Sharapova took to her official Facebook page on Saturday to announce that she will be unable to participate in the grass court season due to the injury sustained at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

Sharapova was leading Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the final set of their second round encounter when the Russian was forced to retire, prematurely ending her clay court season.

Planning to return at the Aegon Classic in Birmingham  the injury proved more serious than it initially appeared, and Sharapova will next play at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.