Injuries force Ljubicic, Karlovic to withdraw from Games
BEIJING -- Croatia's chances of a tennis medal in the men's singles suffered two blows on Saturday when Ivo Karlovic and Ivan Ljubicic withdrew because of injury.
Mario Ancic, the world number 25, did not travel to China after pulling out with an injury last month.
Karlovic, the 14th seed, is replaced by China's Yu Xinyuan who faces Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the first round. Berdych becomes the 17th seed in the 64-man draw.
Ljubicic, who won a bronze medal in the doubles with Ancic in Athens four years ago, is replaced by Devin Mullings of the Bahamas, the world number 1,025.
With just a day to go before the start of the tournament the ITF had no time to call in one of the players on the alternate list.
Mullings gets his chance because he is already in Beijing for the doubles, while Yu qualified as he is from the host country.
In the women's draw, Maria Jose Martinez of Spain replaces American Lindsay Davenport of the United States who withdrew because of a knee injury.
