A hip injury has forced Kristian Pless to pull out of this week's Shelbourne Men's Irish Open before he was able to commence his challenge.
The Dane, ranked 80 in the world and seeded number one for the $50,000 ATP event at Fitzwilliam, injured his left hip during a practice session at the Dublin venue prior to his first round match against Igor Zelenay from Slovakia.
He will also now miss next week's Hall of Fame Championship in Newport, Rhode Island - a US$416,000 International Series event.
Pless will be replaced in the main draw at Fitzwilliam by Canadian
Pierre-Ludovic Duclos.
Meanwhile, three Irish players will hope to follow national number one Louk Sorensen into the second round when they play first round matches today.
Peter Clarke plays Igor Sijsling of The Netherlands, James McGee takes on Australia's Alun Jones and this evening Conor Niland faces the French number eight seed, Gary Lugassy.
Entry to the Shelbourne Irish Open is free to the public for the duration of the competition.
