The Bangalore Open women's tennis event lost its sheen on Saturday with star attraction Serena Williams pulling out at the last minute due to sickness.

The late withdrawal of the eight-time Grand Slam champion came when the American failed to board the flight back home on Friday night after developing a "bad flu".

The news came as a bolt from the blue for the organisers of the USD 175,000 WTA Tour event.

"It is very disappointing. She felt very sick because of a bad flu. We came to know that she did not take the flight only at 3 am this morning," a WTA Tour spokeswoman said.

The photographers and the TV crew who had gone to the airport in Bangalore at 4.45 am, when the Australian Open champion was scheduled to arrive, returned a disappointed lot.

It would have been Williams' first ever visit to India.

"I am very excited about the tournament. Indian tennis seems to be all about Sania Mirza, I want to see all that," she had said last week.

Sania, the home favourite, is currently playing in Pattaya, where she has advanced to the semi-finals of a USD 170,00 Tour event.

Williams' place in the main draw was awarded to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia who was entered in the qualifiers that began today.

The start of the main draw action on Monday coincides with the 'Karnataka Bandh', called to protest against the recent verdict in the Cauvery issue.

For the Bangalore Open, it will be 'Serena Bandh'.