The injury bug that bit Andre Agassi in Melbourne appeared to travel about 900km to the Sydney Olympic tennis complex on Thursday.
While Agassi’s hip injury forced him out of the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament in Melbourne, throwing his Australian Open plans in doubt, five players, including top-seeded Lindsay Davenport, pulled out of matches at the Sydney International.
Davenport, who withdrew from the Hopman Cup 10 days ago to give her injured knee extra time to heal, said she was suffering from bronchitis and had to forfeit her quarterfinal match against Australian Samantha Stosur on Thursday.
There was no immediate word on whether it would affect Davenport’s appearance at the Australian Open next week, where the women’s draw has been decimated by injuries to defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, 2004 finalist Kim Clijsters and two-time former champion Jennifer Capriati.
Elsewhere, Max Mirnyi of Belarus took advantage of a retirement by his opponent for the second day in a row when American Taylor Dent, suffering from dizziness and tiredness, pulled out of his singles quarterfinal.
”I was feeling a little bit lightheaded, dizzy, and my energy was going pretty fast,” said Dent. ”The doctor thinks maybe I’m just a little run down. I think I did the right thing, and I think I should be all right for Melbourne.”
The eighth-seeded Dent was leading 4-3 and up a break when he decided that he could not continue.
Sweden’s Joachim Johansson retired from his match against Mirnyi on Wednesday with a hamstring injury. He said he is hopeful of playing in Melbourne.
Fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia also pulled out of her match with Peng Shuai of China on Thursday. Petrova, trailing 6-3, 4-2, said she was uncomfortable in the heat and could not continue.
Leander Paes of India, who plans to play mixed doubles with Martina Navratilova at next week’s Australian Open, had to pull out of his men’s doubles match with a left-foot injury.
Paes, playing with Nenan Zimonjic of Serbia-Montenegro, turned his foot awkwardly returning a shot while up 3-1 in the first set against fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi and Australian Todd Woodbridge.
ATP Tour trainer Bill Norris said it is too early to say whether Paes’s Australian Open plans with Navratilova will have to be scrapped, and that Paes will undergo scans in the next 24 hours.
In 2003, Navratilova and Paes won the Australian Open and Wimbledon mixed doubles titles. It was Navratilova’s 20th Wimbledon title, tying the record set by Billie Jean King.
Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic pulled out of his doubles match on Thursday with stomach problems, enabling the Russian pair of Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko to advance against Berdych and fellow Czech player Radek Stepanek.
In a singles match that went the distance on Thursday, third-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. She’ll play Stosur in the semifinals on Friday.
Fourth-seeded Alicia Molik of Australia beat Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia 6-1, 6-2, and will play Peng.
In men’s quarterfinals, top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt beat 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-1, 7-6 (4).
Hewitt, a three-time winner in Sydney, will play Mirnyi in the semifinals on Friday.
”It’s never an easy match against Max,” said Hewitt, who has lost two out of three matches against Mirnyi. ”He’s an awkward opponent. I’ve got to return well, pass well and try to make him hit a lot of balls.”
Stepanek beat Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in another quarterfinal. He’ll play Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic in the semifinals after Minar’s 2-7, 7-6 (5), 6-4 upset win on Thursday over fourth-seeded Andrei Pavel of Romania. — Sapa-AP