Auckland's Heineken Open tennis tournament has suffered another major blow, with the top seed, David Ferrer, withdrawing from the event.
David Ferrer Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Spaniard suffered a back injury during the final of last night's ATP tournament in Doha, which he won, beating Thomas Berdych 6-4 7-5.
Ferrer's withdrawal follows the earlier withdrawals of last year's champion, John Isner, and the French showman, Gael Monfils.
The tournament director, Karl Budge, says the four time champion is gutted about having to pull out and will still travel to Auckland to honour promotional commitments.
"He's as disappointed as anyone that he's not going to have a crack at winning that fifth title and becoming our most successful ever champion. But injuries unfortunately are a nature of sport and while it's been a tough one for us this year we've got four players sitting inside the world's top 20 still participating in this event."
Ernests Gulbis will become the tournament's top seed, while Tommy Robredo has been promoted to fourth seed and will take Ferrer's spot in the draw, while last year's finalist Yen Hsun Lu is the new eighth seed.
Lu had been drawn to meet the New Zealand wildcard, Rubin Statham, but Statham will instead meet a lucky loser from qualifying.
