Injured Youzhny, Andreev retire
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Russian players Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Andreev retired because of injury Thursday in second-round matches at the St. Petersburg Open.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? The top-seeded Youzhny was trailing Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-2, 2-1 before quitting because of lower back pain, while Marat Safin of Russia led 6-3, 0-1 before Andreev stopped because of a left knee injury.
Youzhny, the 2004 St. Petersburg champion who won the Kremlin Cup for his fifth career title on Sunday, said the pain prevented him from playing his best in the first set.
In his second quarterfinal this season, Istomin will play Safin, the 2000 and 2001 champion.
The Russian broke for a 3-0 lead in the first set. After losing the set, Andreev took a medical timeout to have his knee treated. He served for a 1-0 lead in the second set and then retired.
"I didn't notice Andreev was not moving well," Safin said. "But at times he could not run for the ball. I expected his leg would be taped and he would continue to play."
Andreev said he had aggravated an old injury after playing first-round singles and doubles matches.
Safin, a two-time Grand Slam champion, plans to retire after this season. The former No. 1 has won 15 titles in his career, his last at the 2005 Australian Open. He has reached two previous quarterfinals this season but gone no further.
"I'm facing a tough match. He [Istomin] has nothing to lose," Safin said.
Earlier, Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky beat Russian wild card Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-4, and Igor Kunitsyn defeated wild-card Michail Elgin 6-2, 6-3 in an all-Russian match.
Stakhovsky will play German veteran Bjorn Phau, while Kunitsyn will face second-seeded Victor Hansecu of Romania.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
