PTI
Bangalore, Feb 11: The Bangalore Open women's tennis event lost its sheen on Saturday with star attraction Serena Williams pulling out in the last minute due to sickness.
The late withdrawal of the eight-time Grand Slam champion came when the American failed to board the flight on Friday night after developing a "bad flu".
The news came as a bolt from the blue for the organisers of the $175,000 WTA Tour event.
"It is very disappointing. She felt very sick because of a bad flu. We came to know that she did not take the flight only at 3 in the morning," a WTA Tour spokeswoman said.
Photographers and TV crew who had gone to the airport here at 4.45 am, when she was scheduled to arrive, returned a disappointed lot.
It would have been Serena’s first-ever visit to India.