Injured Nadal quits Masters action

CINCINNATI (Reuters) -- Second seed Rafael Nadal withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday suffering from a combination of cramp in his left forearm and dizziness.

The Spaniard was trailing 7-6 4-1 to Argentine Juan Monaco in his second-round match when he decided to quit, having had an injury timeout at the end of the first set.

"I had some cramping here," Nadal told reporters, pointing to his left forearm.

"I wasn't grasping the racket very well. I didn't feel anything when I was touching the racket."

Nadal said he had also felt unwell throughout the match.

"I wasn't feeling very well when I went to the court. On the way, I felt dizzy all time. It was a tough day.

"Monaco was playing well but I couldn't play more than three balls on every point. I wasn't feeling well. I didn't have power in the legs."

Nadal said he had tried to finish the match but had been unable to.

"It was stupid to continue playing because I felt I couldn't do anything," he said.

"I couldn't move and the dizziness was getting worse. It's stupid continuing (when you are) suffering on court for nothing."

World number 25 Monaco, who has won three titles this year, now plays American Sam Querrey.

Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero upset sixth seed Fernando Gonzalez 6-2 7-6 to reach the third round.

The Spaniard, runner-up last year, cruised through the first set and won the second-set tiebreak 9-7, clinching victory on his sixth match point to set up a meeting with American ninth seed James Blake or German Nicolas Kiefer.

Croatian 11th seed Ivan Ljubicic suffered a surprise defeat 6-4 6-4 to Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt eased into the third round when eighth seed Richard Gasquet retired midway through the second set because of blisters on his playing hand.

The Australian was leading 6-1 3-2 when Gasquet quit. Hewitt will next face Croat Mario Ancic or Austrian Juergen Melzer.

"Two days ago I couldn't touch my racket, but yesterday it was better," Gasquet told reporters. "Today it was a little bit better. I tried at the warm up and it was not so bad, but when I played in the match I couldn't play.

"I'm disappointed because I can't play, but that's life and I have to recover for the U.S. Open."

Hewitt said he was delighted to have a quick match after playing for almost three hours in the first round against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland on Tuesday.

"(A quick match) was good for me. I felt like I was getting on top. I was serving pretty well today as well.

"I played a lot better today. At the start he was hitting the ball like he always does. He's very fluent from the back of the court and he's got all the shots and hits a lot angles as well off both sides."

Later on Wednesday, top seed Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic begin their title bids.

Washington open finalist and tour rookie John Isner was on Wednesday awarded a wild card spot into the U.S. Open, which starts later this month.

The 6-foot-9 (2.06 metres), 22-year-old American shot up to 192 from 416 in the rankings after reaching the final of the $600,000 Washington tournament 10 days ago where he lost to world number four Andy Roddick 6-4 7-6.

On the way to the final in just his second ATP event, the unseeded Isner stunned Britain's Tim Henman, Germans Benjamin Becker and Tommy Haas and Gael Monfils of France.

Also granted wild cards into the August 27-September 9 U.S. Open were Americans Alex Kuznetsov, Jesse Levine, Wayne Odesnik, Ryan Sweeting, 2007 Wimbledon boys' winner Donald Young and 2007 U.S. Tennis Association boys' 18s champion Michael McClune.

Australian Alun Jones, ranked 123rd in the world, was also granted a wild card into the tournament, the USTA said.

Both the men's and women's U.S. Open singles champions will earn $1.4 million in prize money. E-mail to a friend

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