Paris - The hoped-for return of Maria Sharapova has now likely been pushed back to the Indian Wells event in early March in California after the injured former number 1 Russian withdrew from next week's indoor tournament in Paris.

Sharapova missed her Australian Open title defence and has played only one match since Wimbledon in July as she defeated Poland's Marta Domachowska in Montreal before being forced to quit that event.

Sharapova, a three-time Grand Slam champion who has seen her ranking slip to 17th, underwent arthroscopic surgery in October and had expected to be fit by the start of 2009 in Hong Kong.

But she withdrew from that exhibition as well as the Open in Melbourne.

Sharapova, 21, is officially entered in the Barclays Championships in Dubai, but with the first round starting a week from Monday, the date looks unlikely for her.

Sharapova is out of the top 10 for the first time in nearly five years, dating to the summer of 2004.

Entered in Paris are Australian Open winner Serena Williams, Russian semi-finalist Elena Dementieva and France's Amelie Mauresmo. (dpa)