Thursday, October 22, 2009

Haas pulls out of Stockholm Open

Tommy Haas
Germany's Haas was the second seed at the event in Stockholm

Germany's Tommy Haas was forced to withdraw from the Stockholm Open because of flu, handing Finn Jarkko Nieminen a quarter-final spot.

The world number 17 also pulled out in Shanghai last week with a shoulder injury against Rainer Schuettler.

Haas also retired seven games into his Montreal second-round match in August with Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.

Nieminen, ranked 120, will play Oliver Rochus after the Belgian's three-set win over eighth seed Feliciano Lopez.

Lopez, who suffered an ankle injury during their semi-final clash in Shanghai with fellow-Spaniard Rafael Nadal last week, took the first set against Rochus before losing out 4-6 6-4 6-1.

606: DEBATE

Rochus broke Lopez' serve to lead 2-0 in the decisive set, broke again to make it 5-1 and then saved a break point in the next game before serving out the match to bag his fourth quarter-final place in Stockholm.

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus followed up his win over third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero by beating American Robert Kendrick 6-2 6-2 to make the quarter-finals.

There was also success for France's Arnaud Clement who saw off German Michael Berrer 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-1.

Only one seeded player, Robin Soderling, remains in the tournament with the top-seeded Swede set to play Italian Andreas Seppi during the evening session.

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