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Soderling through after Davydenko hobbles out
2009-09-08
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko hobbled out of the U.S. Open on Monday after a thigh strain forced him to retire midway through his fourth round match against Roland Garros runner-up Robin Soderling. The Swede became the first man to reach the quarter-finals when Davydenko shook his head and informed the umpire he could not continue at the end of the third set. The retirement would also have been a relief for Soderling, who had suffered a dizzy spell during the 7-5 3-6 6-2 win. Asked to describe his injury, Davydenko said: "Just some muscle problem, like groin muscle maybe. We don't know yet. "In the middle of second set I felt something painful in the muscle, and every point I have more and more pain. "I called physio as I was thinking, 'What is wrong?' I really don't know if it was a big injury or small injury. And physios also cannot tell me anything. I need some MRI to check my muscle." The Swedish 12th seed said he had no idea Davydenko was in so much pain. "I thought that he was moving pretty well. He's a very fast guy, so I was a little bit shocked that he retired," he said. Davydenko's demise continued a miserable run for the Russians at this year's Open. Having started with 15 women and eight men in the singles draws, only one -- 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova -- was still standing on day eight of the championships. Soderling's victory also set the stage for a possible rematch with Roger Federer, the only man to have beaten the Swede in the last two grand slam events. French Open and Wimbledon champion Federer faces Spaniard Tommy Robredo later Monday. (Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Steve Ginsburg)
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