MELBOURNE – A warm day, but nothing like the heat Vasek Pospisil dealt with in his second-round match against Paolo Lorenzi.
Pospisil had a little help from Argentine Carlos Berlocq, who was warming up with countryman Leonardo Mayer for their doubles match, on the velocity side.
He looked fine. The withdrawal from doubles was preventative, more than anything, as he recovered from a five-setter in his first round and the high heat during his second round.
Having it go three sets, as the first-round match did, would not have been helpful at the end of the day.
Why did they show on court, and only play three games before retiring?
If you don’t show, you don’t get your ranking points (90) and prize money (splitting $23,000 AUS) for winning a round.
The very least he could do for poor partner Julian Knowle, who has found himself in this situation twice in a row in Oz; with Pospisil’s back issues a year ago, they also were on court for just three games before Pospisil called a day. But that was in the first round.
couldn’t be more disappointed ! bye, bye melbourne #Ausopen2015
— Julian Knowle (@Jknowle) January 23, 2015