Melbourne, Australia: The injuries mounted at the Australian Open on Tuesday, although for the most part, players coped with the oppressive heat.
No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday.
Despite temperatures reaching 42 Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) during the afternoon and a hot breeze gusting over Melbourne Park for most of the day, none of the withdrawals were apparently linked to the temperatures.
Isner retired from his match against Slovakia's Martin Klizan with a lingering ankle injury that he said got progressively worse at the Hopman Cup event in Perth and a tournament he won in Auckland, New Zealand, over the past two weeks.
"I know movement is not the best part of my game," the 2.08-meter (6-foot-10) American said, "but at a certain point I've got to be able to move without pain and I wasn't able to do that today."
He withdrew before last year's Australian Open with an injury, as well.
"I thought I had a good shot at playing this match and winning this match and I pulled out," he said. "I could have done the same last year, but I went home."
