Wellington, Feb 24 NZPA - New Zealander Marina Erakovic's return to competitive tennis after injury was interrupted yesterday when she was forced to with draw from the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

The tournament website said Erakovic had been forced to withdraw from both singles and doubles with an upper respiratory tract infection. She had been scheduled to play Taipei's Kai-Chen Chang in the singles, and was also due to team with Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand in the doubles.

Erakovic and Tanasugarn won the Pattaya Open doubles in Thailand last week, beating the Russian pair Anna Chakvetadze and Ksenia Pervak 7-5 6-1 in the final.

Erakovic suffered a hip injury last March, did not return to competition until October and has been struggling since to regain form.

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