体坛英语新闻：U.S. Open retirements reach record 14

NEW YORK, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Seeded players Tomas Berdych and Marcel Granollers both retired during third round matches at the U.S. Open on Saturday, raising the total retirements to a record 14, already more than for any entire Grand Slam tournament in the Open era.

The seven-seeded Czech, the runner-up at Wimbledon last year, had been struggling with a right shoulder problem since the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati two weeks ago and, although he survived matches against Romain Jouan and Fabio Fognini in the tournament, this proved a step too far.

Tipsarevic, the 20th seed, had taken the first set 6-4 when Berdych took a medical time out to receive treatment before he carried on but lost the next five games.

"I felt it already in the match with Fognini but I was able to finish it. I didn't even go to hit yesterday. I wanted to just have treatment on it, relax and not do anything and hope that it was going to be better, but it's not," Berdych said.

Serb Tipsarevic, who has now beaten Berdych in all their four meetings, will play in the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time since Wimbledon in 2008.

He felt he handled the situation well, saying: "I'm happy that I won the first set because I feel that had nothing to do with an injury, but I'm happy that I executed the next five games in the second set."

No. 31 Granollers stopped while has was behind 6-1, 4-3 against 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. It wasn't immediately clear why Granollers retired.

The previous record was the 12 at Wimbledon in 2008, according to the International Tennis Federation.

There also have been two walkovers at the U.S. Open this year. Seven time Grand Slam titlist Venus Williams pulled out of the U.S. Open for a autoimmune disease called sjogren's syndrome, which can lead to inflammation in the muscles and lungs, make patients feel lethargic and cause dryness in the mouth and eyes.

Sixed seeded Robin Soderling, two time French Open runner up, also opted to quit for wrist injury and virus infection.