World number 7 Tennis player Marin Cilic on Friday pulled out of next week’s Maharashtra Open tennis tournament.

He made the announcement through his social media accounts.

He cited his nagging knee injury as the reason for the pullout. Portugal’s Pedro Sousa will now enter the main draw after the withdrawal of the second-seeded player from Croatia.

The former US Open champion, however, hoped to return next year for the tournament.

The tournament will be held from December 31 to January 5, 2019 at the Mhalunge Balewadi Stadium in Pune with qualifiers beginning from tomorrow.