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New York - Czech ninth seed Tomas Berdych became the 17th player to quit the US Open through injury or illness on Saturday when he retired from his third round match against Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.
Berdych was suffering from a right shoulder injury and needed treatment at the end of the first set which he lost 6-4 and then called it quits when he was down 5-0 in the second.
The 25-year-old said he first felt the injury in his Cincinnati Masters quarter-final win over Roger Federer two weeks ago before it caused him to quit his semi-final against Novak Djokovic.
"I already knew there was a problem. I had it in Cincinnati, so it was a case of just trying," he said.
"I was lucky to finish the match against Roger and I felt it here again in the last round. So I didn't hit on Friday, I just got treatment and tried to relax it."
Two-time defending women's champion Kim Clijsters pulled out on the eve of the tournament suffering from a stomach muscle injury.
Former champion Venus Williams withdrew before her second round match with Sjogren's Syndrome, an auto-immune disorder.
In the men's draw, top seed Novak Djokovic benefitted in the first round when Irish qualifier Conor Niland retired through illness in the second set while defending champion Rafael Nadal reached the third round when French opponent Nicolas Mahut quit after two sets with a stomach strain.
