Top seed and world number eight David Ferrer withdrew from the Valencia Open yesterday, citing an elbow injury, which also posed a problem earlier in the year (resulting in a withdrawal from 5 tournaments including Wimbledon). The three time champion, who won his 5th title of the year in Vienna last week, was due to play against German qualifier Daniel Brands, who has now been awarded a walkover. Ferrer has had a great year, boasting a 52-12 Win-Loss record, and is almost assured a spot in the prestigious year-end World Tour Finals in London unless Gasquet wins the Swiss Indoor title and the Paris Masters. After Ferrer's withdrawal, Frenchman Benoit Paire is the only seed who's survived in the first half of the draw. 

Ferrer had given a hint of his impending retirement in Vienna, stating that he wasn't sure if he was going to play. He reiterated that further on Wednesday, confirming the pullout by saying, "Elbow problems are back. I don't prefer to take risks and we decided not to play Valencia. I'm sad I won't be on court. I don't know if it's my last year."

The tournament has been facing a host of different problems, including a sparse crowd and an unusable stadium, with a tiny capacity. Valencia is expected to make an exit from the ATP calendar when the tour resumes again in 2016. 

Despite his injury, the Spaniard kept all his media commitments including a tennis clinic hosted by the tournament. Ferrer was also spotted meeting the winners of a Maui Jim competition (his sponsors). Maui Jim is a Hawaiian sunglasses brand, and the chief sponsor for the Valencia Open, where in a step away from tradition, line judges are often seen sporting their trademark sunglasses. "We're proud to have a partnership with a player of David's caliber," Maui Jim's CEO stated, "His humility, character and ability to overcome are values we identify with."

A major shock at the Valencia open includes Canadian Vasek Pospisil stunning British number 2, Aljaz Bedene 6-3 6-4 to storm into the quarterfinals. Another upset was Pablo Cuevas beating Australian 3rd seed Bernard Tomic, to set up an interesting but unexpected quarterfinal with Benoit Paire
 

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