Bangkok: Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, due to play an exhibition match in Thailand against Venus Williams, will donate $ 10,000 to help victims of the killer tsunami that hit the kingdom, a minister said Wednesday.

Deputy Prime Minister and tennis association head Suwat Liptapanlop said the Russian star, scheduled to arrive in Bangkok late Wednesday, had notified him about her generosity.

?She informed us that she wanted to donate $ 10,000 of her own money to the government?s victim relief fund,? Suwat said.

The fund, launched Tuesday, had already received donations amounting to 108 million baht ($ 2.77 m), according to media reports.

Although a gala dinner to be held for Sharapova and Williams will be cancelled out of respect for the dead, the match scheduled for January 2 in the northern city of Chiang Mai was due to go ahead.