Two more players out because of health

This year's U.S. Open continued to be a breeding ground for ill health Saturday when two more players withdrew, bringing the total of mid-match exits to a record 14 for a Grand Slam event.

The latest to leave were ninth-seeded Tomas Berdych, who left with the same shoulder injury that cut short his play at the Cincinnati tournament two weeks ago, and No. 31 Marcel Granollers, suffering with an abdominal injury.

Both were trailing in the second set when they called it quits -- Berdych down, 6-4, 5-0, to No. 20 Janko Tipsarevic and Granollers behind, 6-1, 4-3, to unseeded Juan Carlos Ferrero. But their decisions not to carry on certainly greased the skids for Tipsarevic, the 27-year-old Serb enjoying a mid-career surge, and Ferrero, the 2003 Open runner-up who, at 31, is working his way back from wrist and knee surgery.

As it happens, Tipsarevic will play Ferrero in the fourth round Monday.

"You have 10, 12, 13 years at the top and that's it," Tipsarevic said. "I guess I was kind of sick being all the time around 30 or 40 . I am not getting any younger."

Evidence of that small players window was all the more obvious with the Open attrition rate. Before Berdych and Granollers, those taking a premature leave were Kei Nishikori (back), Frank Dancevic (hamstring), Conor Niland (food poisoning), Marinko Matosevic (ankle), Louk Sorensen (cramping), Karol Beck (shoulder), Radek Stepanek (shoulder), Nicolas Mahut (abdominal muscle) and, among the women, Misaki Doi (cramping), Ayumi Morita (shoulder), Jamie Hampton (heat illness) and Yanina Wickmayer (lower back).

And that list of 14 doesn't include Robin Soderling, the sixth-seeded Swede who withdrew shortly before his first-round match because of a stomach virus, or Venus Williams, whose diagnosis with Sjörgen syndrome caused her to leave before her second-round match.

Prior to this year's Open, the most in-play withdrawals at a Grand Slam tournament was 12 at Wimbledon in 2008.