Tennis-Sharapova pulls out of Paris Open

PARIS Feb 4 (Reuters) - Former world number one Maria Sharapova has pulled out of next week's Paris Open after failing to fully recover from a shoulder injury, organisers said on Wednesday.

"I confirm she will not be there, she will not be taking part in the Dubai tournament the following week," a tournament spokeswoman said.

The 21-year-old Russian has been sidelined since August and was not able to defend her Australian Open title last month, dropping to 17th in the WTA rankings released on Monday.

World number one Serena Williams of the United States and Russian Olympic champion Elena Dementieva have confirmed they will take part in the tournament starting on Monday, organisers added. (Reporting by Chrystel Boulet-Euchin, writing by Julien Pretot; editing by Justin Palmer)