Juan Monaco has pulled out of his quarter-final match against Lucas Pouille at the Rome Masters due to a left hip injury.
The Argentine stunned Stan Wawrinka in the third round to reach the last eight in the tournament for the first time since 2009. Earlier in the tournament, Monaco also produced wins over Steve Johnson and 16th seed Kevin Anderson.
The severity of Monaco’s injury appears to be more serious than initially reported. Reporting on the issue, Argentine journalist Alejandro Klappenbach has said the hip issue has casted a doubt on Monaco’s participation at the French Open, which still start in nine days time.
Dolor en la cadera izquierda. WO en Roma. Baja de Niza. Duda para Roland Garros. Lo que se sabe de Mónaco.
— Ale Klappenbach (@aleklap) 13 May 2016
Translation – Pain in the left hip. WO in Rome, Nice participation low, Doubt for Roland Garros. What is known about Monaco (injury).
The withdrawal of Monaco means that Lucas Pouille will now play in his first Masters 1000 semi-final. The Frenchman entered the tournament in the second round after being awarded a lucky loser spot to replace Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who withdrew due to injury. Pouille has capitalized on his opportunity by producing wins over Ernests Gulbis and David Ferrer before the quarter-final stage.
Pouille: “I should not be here, I lost in the qualifying, I’m a lucky guy. Generally I’m not a lucky guy.”
— Giulio Fedele (@fedele_giulio) 13 May 2016
Due to today’s retirement, Pouille is set to rise 21 places up in the rankings to 31st in the world and will be seeded at the French Open. In the last four he will play either Andy Murray or David Goffin.
