The Serb had lost the first set 6-3 when he decided that he could no longer continue, handing the tie to his Spanish opponent.
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Djokovic called for the ATP trainer while trailing 1-2.
Novak Djokovic’s surprise withdrawal from the event means the pair will take centre stage with a first meeting since the Montreal Masters previous year.
Djokovic continued and said that it was “the first time (he) had such a problem” but he must have been referring to the allergy specifically as opposed to eye problems in general. The Swiss is just 2-4 against Djokovic in the last six matches but has beaten the Serbian in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Australian Open (2-6 6-4 6-2 3-6 9-7) and the final of the 2015 French Open (4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4).
Nick Kyrgios and Stan Wawrinka will play against each other for the first time since last year’s infamous sledging incident in Friday’s semi-final of the Dubai Tennis Championship.
Tomas Berdych marked his tenth appearance at the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 6-1, 6-4 thumping of Joao Sousa to reach the second round on Tuesday.
During that match, Kyrgios was overheard making a crude sexual remark about women’s tennis pro Donna Vekic, Wawrinka’s girlfriend, via the on-court microphone system. He won last week.
“I thought that both of us were playing really average today”, Kyrgios said.
Like most great tennis players, Nick Kyrgios has goals this season. That was actually really good. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll wake up on a good day”. He played great there. It’s tough to play especially against him, who doesn’t give you too much rhythm.
He then took hold of the match to clinch a runaway victory with 27 winners and five breaks of serve.
Kyrgios is expected to be named a singles starter by captain Lleyton Hewitt when Australia hosts the United States in next weekend’s Davis Cup opener in Kooyong and was in no mood to push through the back issue and risk aggravating the injury. “Obviously, I think I’ve matured a lot from past year”.
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Kyrgios also beat Berdych en route to winning his first career title in Marseille last week. “It’s probably my favourite win over the past couple of weeks”. The 20-year-old Canberran fired 10 aces and saved the four break points he faced to outclass the Czech in a match that lasted 87 minutes.
