Davydenko pulls out of Malaysia quarterfinal

Kuala Lumpur - Former world No.3 Nikolay Davydenko pulled out of his Malaysian Open tennis tournament quarterfinal against Japanese third seed Kei Nishikori Friday.

The Russian had lost the first set 4-6 when he retired from the match. The reason was unclear.

Nishikori, ranked 17 in the world in his breakthrough season, plays second seed Juan Monaco in the semis. The Argentinean downed Canada’s Vasek Pospisil in 6-3, 6-4, in their quarterfinal match.

The 31-year-old Davydenko, who recently refuted rumours he is close to announcing his retirement from the game, had ousted lucky loser Sanam Singh of India and Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin to make the quarterfinals.

The prize fund for the hard court tournament is $850,000.