Denmark's Kristian Pless retired with a shoulder injury, to give Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic a place in the final of the Gold Flake Indian Open tennis tournament.
The 19-year-old qualifier was trailing 0-4 in the first set when he decided to pull out.
Tabara, who finished 195th in the 2000 ATP Champions' Race, will play Russia's Andrei Stoliarov in the final. The unseeded Russian beat Spain's Tommy Robredo 4-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the other semi-final.
"I had expected a tough match from Pless and I am disappointed he could not play because of his
shoulder," Tabara said.
"Pless normally has a big service, but by the second game he was hitting his second or third serve
and I knew something was wrong."
Pless said his shoulder problem had started during Friday's quarter-final against Romanian Adrian Voinea.
"I thought I would be okay if I got a little bit of sleep, but when I woke up in the morning I was in a lot
of pain. The tournament doctor tried to help me out, but I found I was unable to serve out on the court.
Later, I started having problems with hitting my forehand as well and so I decided to quit rather than
make the injury worse," he said.
Pless will rest for a few days and then attempt to qualify for the Australian Open, which starts on January 15.
Stoliarov, who lost the first set 4-6, fought back to win
the next two sets.
Robredo exhibited some good variety in his
game, but Stoliarov, who is ranked higher at 141 on the ATP
list compared to Robredo's 184, got into his rhythm and reeled
of some fine forehand winners.
This is the first time that Stoliarov and Tabara are
figuring in the final of an ATP tour event.
Both are unseeded.