Andy Murray's hopes of playing in the French Open look slim after he was forced to retire in the first round of the Masters Series tournament on Tuesday with another in a long line of injuries.
It was a dreadful 20th birthday surprise for the world No. 10 from Scotland, who had been outplaying the Italian hero Filippo Volandri until he was led from the court in agony with a damaged wrist tendon and taken to hospital.
"I'm not sure how bad it is, but it is inflamed and stiff and I expect it will be put in a cast," said Murray later. "I will go home and have it looked at again and then I will make an announcement."
PHOTO: EPA
But when asked whether his chances of competing at Roland Garros the week after next were good, he said: "Probably not, I would have thought."
Murray had earned a 5-1 lead over last week's conqueror of Roger Federer in Rome by launching sudden fierce flat ground strokes from both wings to break up the baseline sparring.
This policy helped Murray, one of the world's two or three most promising players, to make a spectacular start, winning the first 12 points and the first four games.
However this may also have contributed to the injury as he over-hit a forehand drive on the second point while serving for the set.
Murray decided to continue immediately, but after striking two backhands without discomfort he dropped his racket suddenly in the middle of the next rally while playing a forehand drop shot.
Striking the ball at all on the forehand had become almost impossible, but after a seven-minute interval during which the trainer appeared and Murray's right wrist was strapped, he decided to try again.
This time, as soon as he struck a forehand, he yelled loudly and the match ended in distressing scenes with Murray bending over at the back of the court, convulsed with pain for nearly a minute.
Eventually the umpire called the match to Volandri and Murray was attended by the trainer again before being led off and taken for an MRI scan.
Later, Nicolas Almagro upset defending champion Tommy Robredo 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 in a bruising all-Spanish clash to reach the third round of the Hamburg Masters on Tuesday.
Almagro twice came from a break down to force a tiebreak in the first set only to lose it 7-1. He recovered, though, to dominate the baseline battle over the final two sets and complete victory in two hours 28 minutes.
It was a good day for Spain at the claycourt tournament, as 12th seed David Ferrer beat Sweden's Robin Soderling 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Carlos Moya and Oscar Hernandez won first-round ties.
Robredo's defeat was the only surprise among the three second round matches on Tuesday, as seventh seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beat Frenchman Florent Serra 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to join Almagro and Ferrer in the last 16.
There was one upset in the first round, with Florian Mayer beating 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 7-6, the German taking the decisive tiebreak 7-5.
Top seeds Roger Federer and Nadal have byes through to the second round and were not in singles action until yesterday.
Federer will take on Juan Monaco after the Argentine beat Dominik Hrbaty on Monday.
Nadal is on a 77-match winning streak on clay but he expects a few difficulties against his countryman Hernandez, who looked full of promise as he kept the counter-punching Benjamin Becker at bay in a 6-3 6-7 6-3 win that lasted more than three hours.
"It will be a difficult one," Nadal told reporters after practising on Tuesday. "Every court is different and the first match is always hard."
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