Tennis: The intense build up to next week's Australian Open claimed three more casualties today when Rafael Nadal, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Paradorn Srichapahan all pulled out of the Sydney International.
Nadal, the world number two from Spain, was trailling Australian wildcard Chris Guccione 6-5 in the first set when he retired from the last major warm-up event before the Open.
Kuznetsova lost the first set of her second-round match to Katarina Srebotnik when she said she was unable to continue citing breathing problems, while Srichaphan cited a wrist injury for his decision quit against Czech qualifier Ivo Minar.
Nadal, who missed last year's Australian Open with a foot injury, called for medical help after the seventh game but gave up after just four more games.
He told a news conference he had been failing pain in his right inner thigh but that his decision to pull out was only precautionary.
"The trainer told me if I kept playing I might make it worse . . . and I wanted to be 100 per cent for the Australian Open," he said.
The trio's withdrawal came less than two hours after injury-prone Belgian Kim Clijsters demolished another Australian wildcard, Nicole Pratt, to charge into the quarter-finals, while top seed Amelie Mauresmo struggled in the Australian summer heat to beat Tatiana Golovin.