Kim Clijsters will not defend title at U.S. Open

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Two-time defending U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters will not be in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., later this month.

The Belgian tennis star announced Friday she will skip the U.S. Open because of a stomach muscle injury she suffered at a Women’s Tennis Assn. event in Toronto last week. Clijsters, who didn’t play at Wimbledon because of an ankle injury, said ‘two weeks of rehab is not enough to heal this injury.’

‘Obviously I’m very disappointed,’ she told the Associated Press. ‘I trained very hard this summer and felt in a good shape to play the U.S. Open.’

Clijsters became the first unseeded woman to win the U.S. Open in 2009 after returning from a two-year hiatus from the sport to start a family. She then defeated Vera Zvonareva in the 2010 final.

Clijsters, who won the Australian Open earlier this year and is ranked No. 3 on the WTA tour, has won four grand slam titles in her career. Her first grand slam victory came at the U.S. Open in 2005.

The 2011 U.S. Open runs Aug. 29 through Sept. 11.

Here are some highlights from her 2010 U.S. Open victory:

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