Kuznetsova pulls out of Citi Open due to visa issues

WASHINGTON (AP) Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has pulled out of the Citi Open because of visa issues.

The 34-year-old Russian announced the problem on Twitter on Thursday and apologized to fans for not being able to make it to the U.S. Open tuneup.

Kuznetsova won the U.S. Open in 2004 and French Open in 2009. The 2018 Citi Open is one of her 16 career WTA titles.

Kuznetsova tweeted that she ''never had issues like this in my life'' and eventually hopes to get a visa and play some tournaments on the U.S. swing.

---

More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports