Kei Nishikori. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Organisers will be hoping for a better second day at the Heineken Open after yesterday's marquee match-up ended with rising Japanese star Kei Nishikori crying off injured just 33 minutes into the first set against former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Nishikori, who came into the tournament
with a big reputation and a forearm niggle picked up in Brisbane last week, could not be accused of trying to play through the pain barrier.
The 19-year-old looked impressive establishing an early 2-0 lead over Ferrero but the pain in his arm flared in the sixth game and he made a rapid exit minutes later.
With bigger fish to fry in the form of next fortnight's Australian Open, Nishikori's caution was perhaps understandable. But, given his status as one of the game's brightest young talents and the fact that he expected the injury to take "just a couple of days" to clear, his decision to hop on a plane for Melbourne today was disappointing.
"It's not just one spot, it's sore all up my [forearm]," he said. "I started well but it started hurting in the last two games. I just couldn't keep playing."
Ferrero, on the comeback trail after slipping outside the top 50 for the first time in a decade, will now face the winner of this morning's match between defending champion Philipp Kohlschreiber and Slovakian wildcard Domonik Hrbaty.
"It is always nice to go through but not like this," Ferrero said. "I wanted to play this match to get some rhythm."
Ferrero said he was happy with his game after overcoming a slow start to lead 5-3 when Nishikori withdrew.
"I made some errors at the beginning. He played so fast all the time, maybe because he had the pain."
Latvian Ernests Gulbis takes on Spain's Marcel Granolliers today in the second match on centre court, followed by Argentina's Agustin Calleri against Frenchman Marc Gicquel.
