Russia’s hopes of reaching their second consecutive Davis Cup final were dealt a heavy blow this weekend, after seasoned campaigner Marat Safin withdrew from the Russian Davis Cup team ahead of their semi-final against Argentina.

Safin will instead travel to the Thailand Open early next week in an attempt to climb the ATP rankings. The Russian was reported to have been put off the Davis Cup by the prospect of having to travel from Buenos Aires to Thailand within hours of completing his Davis Cup rubbers.

According to  his website, Safin “needs to keep getting points before the end of the year and feels the trip from Buenos Aires to Bangkok would be very long and tiring.”

Safin’s departure means that the Russians will now have to contest the Davis Cup semi-finals without two of their best players, following the earlier withdrawal of Mikhail Youzhny due to a neck injury.

The task of progressing to the Davis Cup final will be left to Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov. Safin’s withdrawal makes Argentina the outright favourites to win the tie, as the Argentinean team will go into the Davis Cup semi-final with home-ground advantage and a full strength team.