FazHeartbreak for Nadal and Federer
October 31st 2008 23:31
The Paris Masters showed little love last night when both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer pulled out of their quarter-finals with injuries.
Second seeded Federer was the first to go, announcing that he would not be able to take his place on the centre court as planned this evening against James Blake.
Top seed Nadal did see some action shortly afterwards but promptly withdrew with an injury to his right knee after dropping the first set 1-6 to Russia's Nikolay Davydenko.
It was a double body blow for the prestigious tournament, which has been hit by a rash of injury withdrawals in recent years.
In the day's opening quarter-final, Andy Murray's hopes of making tennis history by winning three consecutive Masters Series titles were wrecked by an outstanding David Nalbandian.
The defending champion from Argentina won their quarter-final tie 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 producing the best tennis of the week as his love affair with Paris in the autumn continued.
The shocks of the day, however, concerned Federer and Nadal who had been seeded to face off in Sunday's final in what would have been their first meeting on court since their epic Wimbledon clash in July.
The second seed, who has never won a tournament in Paris, strained his back going for a shot in his opening match on Wednesday against Sweden's Robin Soderling and it came back overnight Thursday to haunt him.
It was the first time in his career that Federer had been forced to withdraw from a tournament after it had started and it will cast doubts over whether he will be able to defend his Masters title in Shanghai starting in nine days time.
"I'd had a bad back for a couple of days - it came about against (Robin) Soderling (on Wednesday) - went away for the next match against Cilic but came back during that match and hasn't gone away since," he said.
"With overnight painkillers you sort of get over it but I just can't play the way it is right now. Hopefully it will be fine for Shanghai."
Nadal on the other hand attempted to play with injury but was no match for Nikolay Davydenko, losing the first set 6-0.
From there, the Spaniard knew it was time to quit.
Not only is Nadal in doubt for the Masters in Shangai, he is also in doubt for the Davis Cup Final against Argentina in late November.
Nadal said "he will not do anything stupid" that would endanger his participation for next season.
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