Wawrinka dumped out of Swiss Open with injury

GSTAAD, Switzerland: Local interest ended in dramatic fashion at the Swiss Open on Friday as second seed Stanislas Wawrinka joined compatriot Roger Federer as a back injury victim and out of the tournament.
Wawrinka had to quit after just over two hours as he trailed Spanish fifth seed Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 2-6, 4-3 after taking treatment before the start of the final game.
Top seed Federer lost on Thursday in straight sets to German Daniel Brands with the Swiss complaining of back spasms which had bothered him for more than a week.
Retirement was a bitter blow for Wawrinka, winner of the spring clay title in Lisbon and Madrid Masters finalist against Rafael Nadal.
Lopez will play a Saturday semifinal against Dutchman Robin Haase, a winner over Marcel Granollers of Spain 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
Victor Hanescu, the 2011 champion, ended the dream week of Brands with a 6-3, 6-4 quarter-final win on the high-altitude clay of this alpine village.
Brands took treatment on court three games into the second set on his way to his 70-minute loss.
Hanescu, ranked 54th to the 55 of Brands, won his 10 match at Gstaad, finishing with five aces and a break of serve per set.
Hanescu next faces sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny, a winner over fourth-seeded tournament debutant Juan Monaco 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7).
Monaco was playing his sixth quarter-final of the season, but was unable to stop Youzhny from reaching a second Gstaad semi-final in three years.
Wawrinka looked dodgy from the start against Lopez, 31, a 2006 finalist who won the first set with an ace and withstood a storm as his Swiss opponent fought back.
Wawrinka appeared in trouble after levelling at a set apiece with Lopez having saved six set points in the second set.
The Swiss dropped serve for 1-2 on back-to-back double-faults in the third set as his conditioning began to worsen.
Lopez was fully in control by the time Wawrinka called for the trainer after the seventh game.
He gave up two points into the next game, with Lopez improving to 20-11 this season.

Top seed Isner books Atlanta quarterfinal
In Atlanta, Georgia, top seeded John Isner edged wild card Christian Harrison 7-6 (11/9), 4-6, 7-5 on Thursday to book a quarterfinal berth at the ATP Atlanta Open.
Isner fired 29 aces but needed two hours and 24 minutes to get past the tenacious 19-year-old, whose elder brother Ryan Harrison booked a quarterfinal berth earlier in the day.
Christian Harrison had made his ATP Tour singles debut on Wednesday with a victory over Alejandro Falla — surprising many but not his older brother.
“I think a lot of people were shocked, but I wasn’t shocked, he wasn’t shocked, he has that expectation of himself where he feels he belongs,” said Ryan Harrison, who reached the last eight with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands.
Harrison will play Colombian Santiago Giraldo who was leading Michael Russell 5-7, 6-3, 3-0 when the American retired from their match.
Isner will play compatriot James Blake, who reached his first quarter-final of the season with a brisk 6-3, 6-2 victory over eighth-seeded Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-2.
Blake broke Donskoy’s serve three times and saved all four break points he faced in the 64-minute encounter.
“I always feel like the hard-court summer is my best chance to get points, I’m playing my best tennis,” Blake said. “The courts usually suit me the best. When it’s hot I play pretty well. Home crowds in the States, it’s generally my favorite time of the year. This is a good start to it right away.”
In other second-round matches, Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin defeated fifth seed Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan 7-5, 6-2.
Istomin will play second-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who beat Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden 6-7 (7/9), 6-2, 6-2.
The remaining quarterfinal was set for Wednesday, when seventh-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt advanced to a meeting with Croatian Ivan Dodig.