Health scare for dal raises clay season worries

Miami, March 27: Spanish tennis ace Rafael dal retired from his opening match at the Miami Open against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur after suffering from apparent heat exhaustion.

dal easily won the first set 6-2 on Saturday but began struggling with physical problems amid the hot, muggy conditions and called for medical assistance on two occasions, the first time after losing the second set 4-6 and again while trailing 0-2 in the decider, reports Efe.

He was filly uble to continue, feeling “dizzy” in stifling conditions, falling to the 94th-ranked Dzumhur 2-6, 6-4, 3-0 after an hour and 50 minutes.

dal’s exit comes a day after Swiss legend Roger Federer withdrew from this hard-court tourment prior to his scheduled opening match on Friday against Argenti’s Juan Martin del Potro.

Del Potro lost to the Swiss World No.3’s replacement, Argentine Horacio Zeballos, 4-6, 4-6. Dzumhur also called for a doctor at the end of the first set of Saturday’s second-round match and complained that he had been feeling dizzy and had stomach problems, but he was able to recover.

The 29-year-old dal, who struggled through his worst season in a decade last year, was uble to build on his momentum from last week’s event in Indian Wells, California, where he reached the semi-fils before losing to Serbian World No.1 Novak Djokovic. IANS