Ferrero facing fitness race

Juan Carlos Ferrero has been forced out of the Heineken Open in Auckland with an ankle injury and is now a doubt for next week"s Australian Open.

The third-seeded Spaniard was retired just four games into his second round clash with Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer.

Ferrero trailed 3-1 when he withdrew from the contest and now faces a race against time to be fit for Melbourne.

His withdrawal is another blow of the tournament in Auckland with Argentina"s David Nalbandian pulling out on Monday with an abdominal injury.

Ferrero is unsure at this stage whether he will recover in time to play at the Australian Open but is hoping for the best.

"They say it"s not too bad, I will have to wait three or four days with some ice, take some anti-inflammatories and see how it goes," he explained.

"I want to play over there so I will do everything in my power to make it, but we"ll see. I cannot tell you now."

World number 209 Lammer now goes through to a quarter-final with another Spaniard, eighth-seeded Albert Montanes, who beat local hope Rubin Statham 7-6, 6-2.

Two more of the top seeds also bit the dust as Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Argentine Juan Monaco both lost.

Seventh seed Monaco surrendered a one-set lead against John Isner as the big American fired down 11 aces on his way to a 5-7 6-4 6-3 success.

Meanwhile, fourth seed Almagro endured a day to forget as he was thrashed 6-0 6-3 by France"s Marc Gicquel.

Elsewhere, top seed Tommy Robredo did just enough to see of Germany"s Simon Greul in two tough sets winning 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-2), while fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany remains on course for a repeat of his 2008 triumph at the event as he overcame Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-4 6-1.