TENNIS in DEPTH.

Juan Martin Del Potro and Robin Soderling did not play at Kooyong after falling victim to injury.

US Open champion Del Potro pulled out with a wrist problem, while the Swedish world number eight has an elbow injury.

Soderling retired hurt after losing the first set 6-4 against Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic, while Del Potro withdrew ahead of his semi-final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

Last year’s beaten French Open finalist, Soderling said a tendinitis injury that has been troubling him since Wimbledon flared up during his dead rubber against Ljubicic.

“It was better yesterday, today I felt it a little bit more, so I figured I didn’t want to take any more risks,” he said.

“A lot of times, it gets better in just a couple of days, so with some rest and some treatment, I really hope I will feel good next week.”

Tsonga will now face Fernando Verdasco in the final after the Spaniard emerged as a strong Australian Open contender with a 6-1 6-2 demolition of world number three Novak Djokovic.

“I was feeling good today, despite the conditions,” said Verdasco, referring to the blustery winds swirling around the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.

“Of course, the result was a surprise. You never go to the court, and even less, with a guy like Novak, and think that you are going to win 6-1 6-2.”

Djokovic played down the result as “good practice” for next week’s first Grand Slam event of the season.

“Today I didn’t feel good on the court,” admitted the Serb. “He played well, but I made too many unforced errors and that’s it.”

Top seed Tommy Robredo made a quarter-finals exit at the Heineken Open in Auckland, losing 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-4 to unseeded American John Isner.

The all-Spanish line-up of top four seeds at the New Zealand tournament are now out.

Second seed David Ferrer and fourth seeded Nicolas Almagro were beaten in Wednesday’s second round while third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero was forced to retire in the second round with an ankle injury.

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