World No. 2 Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Thailand Open with a knee injury, handing the tournament a major blow ahead of the first-round starting tomorrow.
Nadal, who crashed out of the US Open earlier this month suffering the same injury, said yesterday he was receiving treatment at his home in Mallorca.
"I'm really sorry to announce I have to withdraw from the Thailand Open at this late date," Nadal said in a statement.
"I had a knee injury during the US Open and hoped that it would clear up for the Thailand Open ... I have sought medical advice and have been advised to rest my knees for at least another few weeks," he said.
World No. 3 and US finalist Novak Djokovic will take over as top seed, with American Andy Roddick second at the Impact Arena.
Both will arrive in Thailand fresh from Davis Cup duty in Europe, after Djokovic and his Serbian team battled Australia and the US, spearheaded by Roddick, took on Sweden in Gothenburg.
American James Blake chose not to defend his Thailand Open title.
Thai hopes this week rest with wild card Danai Udomchoke with compatriot and Thai No.1 Paradorn Srichaphan, ranked 155 in the world, still sidelined by wrist problems which have kept him off court since March.
Djokovic will play his first ATP event since losing the US Open final to Roger Federer.
The 20-year-old Serb returns to the Thai capital after first playing there in 2004, where he crashed out as a wild card in the opening round.
First up he takes on Russian Igor Kunytsin, with the winner of that match facing Asian No. 1 Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea, or Amer Delic of the US.
Roddick reached the Bangkok final in 2004, where he lost to Federer as the Swiss master won the first of back-to-back Bangkok trophies, 6-4, 6-0.
Roddick has a first-round match with Taiwan's Jimmy Wang.
Czech third seed Tomas Berdych, another Davis Cup participant, starts against Thai wild card Kittipong Wachiramanowong.
German Davis Cup ace Tommy Haas takes the fourth seeding and will play veteran American Vince Spadea.
Carlos Moya of Spain, Russian Dmitry Tursunov, Croatia's Ivo Karlovic and Spain's Fernando Verdasco round out the seedings.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set