Australian Open organizers dreaded the ringing of the phone with any more bad news yesterday after a spate of injuries threatened a mini-exodus of stars from the year's opening grand slam next week.
Andre Agassi sent a tremor through tournament organizers when a recurring hip flexor problem forced him to quit his Kooyong Classic match against fellow American Andy Roddick in Melbourne.
PHOTO: EPA
The injury, which kept him out of Wimbledon last year, struck again in the first set and the 34-year-old bowed out to face a battle against time to prove his fitness.
PHOTO: AP
"Time will shortly tell me if [playing] is a possibility or not," Agassi said. "It's guesswork, I'll have to wait and see what I'm dealing with, to be quite honest."
A more expected withdrawal came with the official announcement that troubled Australian Mark Philippoussis had not recovered in time from an adductor (groin) muscle injury.
The 28-year-old one-time Wimbledon and US Open finalist suffered the injury playing for Australia in the Hopman Cup in Perth this month and had been racing to recover for a slam where he has yet to get past the fourth round in nine attempts.
Popular Indian doubles specialist Leander Paes was another facing a setback for his Australian Open chances after going over on his left foot playing doubles at the Sydney International yesterday.
Paes, partnering Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic, injured the front of his left foot while making a service return and crashed to the court.
The 31-year-old was taken away in a wheelchair to be assessed and given immediate ice treatment.
American serve-volleyer Taylor Dent, seeded 29 for the Open, conceded his quarter-final with Max Mirnyi at the Sydney International yesterday complaining of dizziness and feeling unwell.
Mirnyi was down a break at 3-4 in the first set when Dent called a halt, not wanting to worsen his condition ahead of the Open.
Dent said he had been advised by a doctor that to stay on court in the intense heat would only jeopardize his chances of playing in the year's opening grand slam.
Rising Swedish star Joachim Johansson was another with injury concerns after withdrawing from the Sydney International with a pulled hamstring on Wednesday.
The world number 11 said he was consulting a doctor to learn the full extent of his injured right hamstring.
And the women's side of the draw was not immune from injuries with former two-time champion Jennifer Capriati pulling out of the Open on Wednesday with a shoulder injury.
The 2001 and 2002 Australian Open champion, ranked 10th in the world, became the third high-profile player to withdraw from the tournament following the injury exits of defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters, both from Belgium.
Davenport also doubtful
Lindsay Davenport remained confident she would play at next week's Australian Open despite pulling out of the Sydney International with bronchitis.
She was due to face Australia's Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals but withdrew as a precaution with the first grand slam of the season due to start on Monday.
"It's just one of those things where my throat hurts, it's hard to breathe, it's hard to talk, I'm coughing and my body is just below average," a croaky Davenport said.
"It's not good and so I didn't feel like I could go out there and give any kind of match at all," she said.
Davenport, who missed last week's Hopman Cup with a knee problem, said she had been feeling ill for a few days but it wasn't until she woke up yesterday that she realized something was wrong.
"I was actually feeling a little bit better yesterday but when I woke up this morning I felt worse. I was struggling for energy and catching my breath," the Californian said.
"It was just a little concerning because it's been getting worse over the last five days and at some point you've got to stop. I just can't keep running myself into the ground."
Davenport, seeded first for the Australian Open, an event she won in 2000, said she was taking medication and would try and get as much rest as possible in order to be ready for next week.
"Antibiotics and rest, that's all that will help," she said.
"I normally like to play a lot before a grand slam but sometimes you're just dealt with the hand you're given. I'm thankful I have a few more days for it to hopefully clear but I haven't thought about it too much. It's just one of those things that's really bad luck and I've just got to move forward," she said.
Hewitt still on track
Australia's Lleyton Hewitt kept his cool on a blistering hot summer's day to reach the semifinals of the Sydney International yesterday while his main rivals all melted.
The world number three breezed into the last four of the Australian Open warm-up event with a 6-1 7-6 win over Swede Thomas Johansson, to be the last remaining seed in the men's draw.
Fourth seed Romanian Andrei Pavel, Spanish fifth seed Feliciano Lopez and Taylor Dent, the big-serving American seeded eighth, all succumbed to lower ranked opponents as the temperature at Sydney's Olympic tennis center soared to 42?C.
Pavel fell to little-known Czech qualifier Ivo Minar 2-6 7-6 6-4, while Lopez succumbed to Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-2.
Dent, who beat Hewitt in last week's Australian hardcourt championships, failed to finish his quarterfinal with Max Mirnyi of Belarus, quitting halfway through the first set after feeling ill.
In the women's draw, Russia's world number 13 Nadia Petrova quit her match against Chinese amateur Peng Shuai because of heatstroke. The fifth seed was trailing 6-3 4-2 at the time.
Of the five Russian women who entered the event, only third seed Elena Dementieva remains in the draw. The French and US Open finalist beat Swiss Patty Schnyder 6-4 1-6 6-1 to set up a possible semifinal with world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport.
Peng will play Alicia Molik in the other semifinal after the rapidly-improving Australian beat Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga 6-1 6-2.
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