Visa issues knock Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova out of Citi Open

Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has pulled out of next week’s Citi Open in the District 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.