Robin Soderling is in doubt for the Australian grand slam after retiring hurt with an elbow injury after losing the first set 6-4 against Croatian journeyman Ivan Ljubicic.
Spain's Fernando Verdasco emerged up as a strong contender for next week's Australian Open with a 6-1 6-2 demolition of world number three Novak Djokovic to book a place in the final of the Kooyong Classic on Thursday.
However, world number eight Robin Soderling is in doubt for the Australian grand slam after retiring hurt with an elbow injury after losing the first set 6-4 against Croatian journeyman Ivan Ljubicic.
World number nine Verdasco, who lost an epic semi-final battle against eventual winner Rafael Nadal in Melbourne last year, needed only 52 minutes to brush aside an out-of-sorts Djokovic, who collapsed in a hail of unforced errors.
"I was feeling good today, despite the conditions," Verdasco told reporters, referring to the blustery winds swirling around the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club.
"Of course, the result was a surprise. You never go to the court, and even less, with one guy like Novak Djokovic, and you think that you are going to win 6-1 6-2."
While Djokovic appeared at times unable to string two on-target shots together, the 26-year-old Verdasco was all control, breaking the Serbian in the first and third games to race to a 5-0 lead.
Djokovic began finding his range after losing a third break to trail 1-0 in the second set but Verdasco moved brilliantly to chase down potential winners and send back the Serbian's baseline firepower with interest.
"Today I didn't feel good on the court since I stepped in," Djokovic said. "He played well, but I made too many unforced errors and that's it."
The Serbian played down the result as "good practice" for the Australian Open, before adding that he had been practicing too hard.
"I played a lot of matches last year, almost a hundred matches so I, to be honest, I'm a bit fed up with the matches.
"I've been practicing very hard in the last two and half, three weeks, and I think maybe I was a little bit slower today and wasn't moving that well, so that was one of the reasons."
Soderling, playing a dead rubber against Ljubicic after losing to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday, spoke to a tournament physiotherapist after losing their first set and walked off the court.
The Swede, who was beaten by Roger Federer at the final of the French Open last year, said a tendonitis injury he had been troubled with since Wimbledon had flared up while playing.
"It was better yesterday, today I felt it a little bit more, so I figured I didn''t want to take any more risks," Soderling told reporters.
"A lot of times, it got better in just a couple of days, so with some rest and some treatment I really hope I will feel good next week."
Soderling said he would not play another match at Kooyong, however, and declined to talk about his chances of playing the Australian Open.
"100% I will try, you know, of course I will try. Hopefully it will work, but you never know this."
In the other dead rubber match played on Thursday, Chilean world number 11 defeated 18th-ranked German Tommy Haas 6-2 6-4.
British world number five Andy Murray will play an exhibition match against 25th-ranked American Sam Querrey later on Thursday.
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