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Mikhail Youzhny had to retire midway during his second round encounter at St Petersburg Open on Thursday due to back injury. He was playing against Denis Istomin.
Top seed Mikhail Youzhny after winning his first Kremlin Cup title on Sunday, took a medical timeout after losing the first set .He returned back to the court only to quit three games later, trailing 6-2, 2-1.
The Russian world number 25 said,"I just felt a sharp pain in my back midway through the first set.”
"I had to battle through the pain for the rest of the first set. The medical break didn't help either and soon I knew that I couldn't go any longer and had to stop."
"I just hope it's not too serious," added Youzhny.
Youzhny withdrawal was followed by fifth-seeded compatriot Igor Andreev retiring from the indoor tournament with a knee injury in the second set. He was playing his second-round encounter against Marat Safin, trailing 6-3, 0-1.
The 38th-ranked Andreev said,"It's an old injury, I've had it on and off for the last few months.”
"I started feeling some pain in my left knee even before the match but I thought I would still be able to play. In the end, I just couldn't do it anymore."
Safin said that he was ignorant of his opponent’s injury. The former world number one said,"I was just concentrating on my game and didn't know he was feeling pain in his knee. In any case, I'm just happy I got through to the next round."
Safin will face 101st-ranked Istomin of Uzbekistan in the last eight.
