Japanese third seed Kei Nishikori, coming off his fourth career ATP title last week, retired from his second-round match Thursday at the Delray Beach Open with a left hip injury.
The 24-year-old Asian, now coached by retired US star Michael Chang, trailed 4-2 to Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili when he pulled out of the match after 18 minutes, having already surrendered a break in the opening set.
Nishikori won at Memphis last week, defending an ATP title for the first time in his career by beating Ivo Karlovic in the final. His other ATP crowns came in 2012 at Tokyo and 2008 at Delray.
Nishikori helped Japan defeat Canada in a first-round Davis Cup tie earlier this month after reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open last month, losing to world number one Rafael Nadal.
Gabashvili, seeking his first title at the $474,000 event, advanced to a quarter-final against Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic, who eliminated American Ryan Harrison 6-3, 6-4 in 74 minutes.
Cilic has won 10 of his past 11 matches, taking his 10th career ATP title two weeks ago on home soil at Zagreb and losing in the final last week at Rotterdam to Czech Tomas Berdych.
Source: AFP
