Dubai, UAE, 27 February 2013 | tennis.com.au

Bernard Tomic has retired from his opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, citing illness.

The 20-year-old was trailing Romanian Victor Hanescu 3-2 in the opening set before calling it quits at the ATP 500 event.

It’s an unfortunate outcome for the Australian, who arrived in the Middle East with momentum on his side after an impressive run in Marseille last week, where he made the quarterfinals and pushed world No.8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to the brink in a thrilling three-setter.

Hanescu in the second round will face Nikolay Davydenko, who upset No.6 seed Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets on Tuesday in Dubai.