Sore shoulder forces Ivanisevic out early

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Goran Ivanisevic's shoulder hurt so much Saturday that he quit while he was ahead, and the chronic injury could keep him from defending his Wimbledon title in June.

The latest flare-up in Ivanisevic's torn left rotator cuff forced him to retire leading Franco Squillari 4-3 in his opening match at the Nasdaq-100 Open.

Ivanisevic wants to delay surgery because it would sideline him for six months and force him to miss Wimbledon. Instead, he said, he'll likely take a couple of months off and hope rest helps.

That may mean skipping Croatia's Davis Cup match next month at Argentina, and perhaps the entire clay court season, including the French Open.

"If I take whole clay off and I come to Wimbledon and then is same pain, then I will hang myself probably somewhere in London," Ivanisevic said. "I want to play Wimbledon. That's my priority."

Ivanisevic's shoulder bothered him in 2001, when he made an improbable run to the Wimbledon title as a wild card. This year the injury has gotten progressively worse, and he has lost seven of 13 matches.

Saturday's match was the first for Ivanisevic since Feb. 25.

"This amount of pain is just more and more, which I cannot handle," he said. "This is just killing me. I want to play, and I can't play."

In other men's play, top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt edged Paradorn Srichaphan 7-6 (3), 7-5. Hewitt's next opponent will be No. 27 Jan-Michael Gambill, who defeated Andre Sa 7-5, 6-3.

On the women's side, defending champion Venus Williams returned from her own monthlong layoff with better success, beating pesky Eva Dyrberg 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Also advancing in her opening match was No. 1-seeded Jennifer Capriati, the current leader in her back-and-forth battle with Williams atop the WTA Tour rankings. She beat Eleni Daniilidou 6-0, 6-3.

Fifth-seeded Monica Seles staged a comeback to defeat Conchita Martinez for the 20th time in their 21 matches, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Upsets eliminated No. 13 Daniela Hantuchova and No. 6 Justine Henin.