Kei Nishikori retired from his first match at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday just three days after contesting the Monte-Carlo Masters final with world No. 1 Rafael Nadal.

Having received a first-round bye, Nishikori pulled out in the first game of the second set of his second-round match against Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, after losing the first set 6-3.

Scheduled to compete in next month's Madrid Open, Nishikori said the withdrawal was a precautionary measure after experiencing pain in his right thigh among other areas of his body. 

"I felt pain in three different parts of my body while warming up, and wasn't able to perform to my best," he said. "The biggest thing was my right calf. It rapidly got worse and I was unable to move."

(Kei Nishikori retired in his first match in Barcelona.)

The 14th-seeded Nishikori struggled with his serve and was unable to do much with his opponent's. He fended off six break points before Garcia-Lopez won the seventh game.

Nishikori didn't take a point off the Spaniard's first serve until the eighth game, but it was not enough for him to break back.

Garcia-Lopez, ranked 69th in the world, then broke the 22nd-ranked Nishikori, who then retired.

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Nishikori won the Barcelona Open in 2014 and 2015, and was runner-up in 2016. The former world No. 4 prematurely ended his 2017 season in August after suffering a right wrist injury.

"If I rest, I think it will get better," he said.

Nishikori was unable to grab his first career Masters championship in Monte-Carlo on Sunday, when he lost 6-3, 6-2 to Nadal.