Robin Soderling and Juan Martín del Potro out of Australian Open warm-up

The US Open champion Juan Martín del Potro and French Open finalist Robin Soderling are expected to be fit for next week's Australian Open despite pulling out of the Kooyong Classic warm-up event today. Del Potro, the fourth seed at Melbourne Park, did not appear for his semi-final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France because of a wrist injury. Soderling retired from his dead rubber with Ivan Ljubicic after losing the opening set 6-4, although the world No8 from Sweden believes he will be fit for the Australian Open as he recovers from a recurrence of the elbow tendonitis that plagued him last year. "It was better yesterday, today I felt it a little bit more, so I figured I didn't want to take any more risks," he said. "A lot of times, it gets better in just a couple of days, so with some rest and some treatment, I really hope I will feel good next week." Novak Djokovic won just three games against Fernando Verdasco in round two at Kooyong but insists his Australian Open preparations remain on track. The Serb, 2008 champion at Melbourne Park, was thrashed 6-1, 6-2 in the build-up event to the season-opening grand slam but refused to panic when asked about his loss to the world No9. "The results don't really matter," Djokovic said. "The main point of my participation here is to get a good practice, get some points and games before the Australian Open, which is of course my main priority. Today, I didn't feel good on the court. He played well but I made way too many unforced errors, and that's it." Djokovic insisted he had no injury concerns heading into the Australian Open. "I've been working hard physically, especially putting a priority on that to get stronger and get a good endurance in order to play these five-set matches," he said. "That's what the grand slams are all about, especially here in Australia with the heat, so I feel quite good about that. And game-wise I'm happy – not with today's match, but in general, yes." Verdasco was surprised with the ease with which he won. "Of course it's always a surprise," he said. "You never go on the court, and even less with a guy like Novak Djokovic, and think you are going to win 6-1, 6-2. But I was just trying to do the best I can, trying to put the balls in, trying to force more when I had the chance." Verdasco will play Tsonga in the final.