The Los Angeles Open tennis tournament has suffered a major blow with second-seeded American Mardy Fish, the highest-ranked player at the ATP hardcourt event, withdrawing before the quarter-finals because of an abdominal strain.
Fish, who scraped past Australian wildcard Chris Guccione in the second round yesterday, had been scheduled to meet Argentina's Leonardo Mayer in the last eight.
Mayer will now advance to his first ATP semi-final where he will face Australian qualifier Carsten Ball, who beat big-serving American John Isner.
Fish, who won his third ATP career title at Delray Beach in February, first suffered the abdominal injury in a Davis Cup singles match against Croatian Marin Cilic earlier this month.
In-form American Sam Querrey, a runner-up in his last two ATP events, upset fourth-seeded Israeli Dudi Sela and will now meet top-seeded German Tommy Haas who beat eighth seed Marat Safin of Russia.
