Injury forces Roddick out

Andy Roddick was making his debut in Hong Kong

American rising star Andy Roddick was forced to withdraw from the Hong Kong Salem Open after picking up a foot injury.

The fourth seed, making his debut in Hong Kong, made a good start to his first-round encounter against Andre Sa.

But with the match in the final set after one hour and 43 minutes, Roddick said he felt a pain in his foot following a changeover.

He received treatment from the trainer during a three-minute injury break and limped back on to court, but lost the next game to love.

Marat Safin wants a Masters Cup place

Roddick then retired with the score at 3-3 in the final set, and officials said later the top of his right foot was swollen.

"It is a fluke inflammation. I don't know how it happened as I was 100% fit going into the match," Roddick revealed.

Earlier, Marat Safin kept his campaign for a Masters Cup place on course with victory over John Hui.

The Russian number two seed beat the local favourite 6-3 6-2 as he aims to break into the top eight in the world.

Ranked number 11, Safin won his first title of the year last week in Tashkent.

And the 21-year-old former US Open champion knows he must keep that form going if he is to make November's season-ending Masters Cup in Sydney.

Big opportunity

"For a first-round match, my game was okay," said Safin. "I'm satisfied, since I've only been training here for three days.

"I have a big opportunity to get to the Masters if I play well for the rest of the season - that means winning here if at all possible."

Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen joined Safin in the second round with a 6-1 7-5 win over Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea.

Swiss Michel Kratochvil kept up the form that took him to the final of the Shanghai Open last week with a 7-6 7-6 victory against Spanish veteran Francisco Clavet.