Former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki has withdrawn from the Brisbane International after hurting her right shoulder in practice.

Wozniacki said on Sunday she was pulling out of the season-opening event as a precaution and was hoping to play in Sydney next week in what will be her only warm-up tournament for the Australian Open starting on January 13.

“I wanted to start off the year well,” the Dane said.

“That’s why I made the decision to withdraw from here, just because I didn’t feel like there was a need to make it worse before going into the Open as well.”

The 23-year-old world No.10 had been in line for a possible quarter-final showdown with 17-time grand slam champion Serena Williams in Brisbane.

Wozniacki had been scheduled to meet Slovakian ninth seed Dominika Cibulkova in the first round and will be replaced in the main draw by a yet to be confirmed lucky loser.