The biggest news at a rainy and soggy Winston-Salem Open on Monday was not made by who advanced. It was who pulled out.
Two-time defending champion John Isner and top seed Tomas Berdych withdrew from the tournament.
After the start of the day was delayed 4 hours, 10 minutes due to rain, two seeded players lost in the second round on Monday night.
Photo: AFP
No. 16 seed Pablo Andujar was beaten by Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun 6-4, 6-3, while No. 12 seed Lukas Rosol was upset by Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Sixth seed Sam Querrey of the US was the only seeded player to advance, beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Eleven seeded players — including No. 2 Andreas Seppi — were scheduled to play their second-round matches yesterday.
The day’s big story was the withdrawal of the two players who met in last year’s final: Isner pulled out with a hip injury, while Berdych withdrew due to pain in his right shoulder.
Both players said they wanted to be healthy for the US Open, which begins next week.
That leaves the tournament without its two highest-ranked players and perhaps its biggest draws.
Isner considers it his hometown tournament and called it “one of my favorite tournaments of the year.”
He won the event in each of its first two years of existence.
He withdrew one day after falling to Rafael Nadal in the Western & Southern Open final in Cincinnati, Ohio. Injuries kept him from playing two majors this year — the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Berdych moved up one spot to fifth in the ATP rankings released on Monday. Isner jumped eight spots to No. 14.
The highest-ranked player remaining in the field is fourth seed Tommy Robredo of Spain at No. 22.
Among the 11 first-round matches played earlier on Monday, James Blake beat fellow American Rhyne Williams 6-1, 7-5; qualifier Steve Johnson beat fellow American Bobby Reynolds 6-1, 6-2; and German David Goffin advanced when Jack Sock of the US withdrew in the third set with Goffin leading 4-6, 6-3, 1-0.
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