THE co world number one Monica Seles said yesterday that she is disappointed an injury has forced her to pull out of the Lipton Championships and she hopes to be back in action soon.

The Australian Open champion, who has been hampered by a series of injuries since her return to tennis last summer, pulled out of last week's Evert Cup in Indian Wells and the Lipton Championships, which begin in Key Biscayne today.

"I am very disappointed that my left shoulder has not healed enough from the injury at the Australian Open in January," Seles said.

"I really wanted to play both in Indian Wells and this week at the Lipton Championships," she added.

Seles is suffering from tendinitis of the left shoulder and a small tear in the lining of the shoulder socket.

Despite playing hurt, Seles won the Australian Open for the fourth time in January, bringing her match record at the Melbourne Grand Slam event to a perfect 28-0.

Indian Wells and the Lipton event would have been the first tournaments in which Seles and co-number one Steffi Graf could have tangled since last year's US Open final, won by the German star.

Graf returned from December foot surgery to win the Evert Cup title last Saturday.

"I am continuing to work on my rehabilitation exercises, and I look forward to returning to the Corel WTA Tour really soon," Seles said.

The 22 year old Seles is next entered in the Family Circle Cup tournament, which begins April 1st at Hilton Head Island.