Peng Shuai was eliminated in the second round at the Australian Open in January 2017
Flavia Pennetta has reportedly cast doubt over an email stating missing tennis star Peng Shuai had asked for help from her then coach.
The email was purported to have been sent by Li Yingzhi, who dated Peng before taking over at the Italian’s management company.
Shuai and Peng, both 29, have claimed the China Tennis Association failed to report her disappearance.
“I don’t know who would send such an email,” said Pennetta, 39.
The Italian retired last month.
Shuai arrived back in China on Tuesday and “vigorously denied the accusations”, according to the Chinese national news agency.
Czech Li, 38, added: “I can only advise Peng Shuai not to trust her accusations and take the CTA’s explanation seriously.”
Both players had emailed Chinese media last week, claiming Peng’s inactivity was partly the fault of the governing body.
The CTA released a statement last week saying “preliminary investigations show” Peng had disappeared while on a business trip in the United States.
“The CTA told Peng Shuai’s team that it had to know where she was in order to respond to her colleagues’ requests,” the statement added.
“However, the CTA never received Peng Shuai’s voicemail or SMS, or had access to her Facebook accounts nor to her mobile phone or the team’s computers.”