Dubai, UAE - Andy Murray was heading home to London on Friday for urgent rest and recuperation after pulling out before his Barclays Championships quarter-final on Thursday with a virus that he's carried for a month or more.

The Scottish second seed said that he has felt poorly since playing in January's Australian Open, with a brief respite a fortnight ago when he won the Rotterdam title over Rafael Nadal.

The pullout now means that three of the world top four are currently out of action: Nadal (right knee), Roger Federer (back) and now world number 4 Murray.

Federer all but wrote off last season after suffering with a case of glandular fever - which featured symptoms similar to what Murray says he's been experiencing.

"I got it first down in Australia, and I haven't been the same really since," said the Scot. "I woke up in the middle of the night sweating.

"I got some antivirals from the doctor yesterday even after the match, so it didn't help so much. I had some breakfast and then slept again for three hours and the guys 
(coach and physio) woke me up, I'm just not feeling good."

The pullout decision handed a walkover into the semi-finals to Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

On court, Gilles Simon ushered Fabrice Santoro out of the Dubai event for the final time with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 quarter-final victory.

The popular Santoro, 36, is hanging up his racket next November at Paris Bercy, and has played his concluding match in the Emirates where he began with the event 17 years ago as a runner-up.

The double-fisted veteran whose game has confounded several generations of opponents, was presented with a long-service award on court after his defeat in just over 
90 minutes.

"When I came here in 1993, Dubai was a brand new city and a brand new tournament, and I saw this place growing up since 17 years," he said. "It's something special for me to leave the tournament today, but I'm happy once again to reach the end."

Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer reached the last four over Russian Igor Andreev 7-5, 6-1 to play Gasquet.

Murray's participation in next weekend's Davis Cup European zonal tie against the Ukraine is in serious doubt.

"I obviously want to try and play, I'll see how I feel, give it my best shot to get ready," said Murray. "The doctor says I need a week, 10 days to start feeling better again.

"You never know with these things; sometimes you can recover quicker than other times."

Murray said that blood tests he had after returning from Australia had turned up nothing untoward.

"I was still on antibiotics for five or six days. So still something is wrong. It's really tough when you have a virus or whatever, you want to just spend time in bed and you're not feeling great." (dpa)