Russian second seed Maria Sharapova [Images] pulled out of Saturday's Italian Open semi-final with Serb title holder Jelena Jankovic because of injury, organisers said.
In the final, fourth seed Jankovic will meet the winner of the match between Russian sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze [Images] and 18-year-old French qualifier Alize Cornet.
The women's tournament has been troubled by injuries, like the men's Rome Masters was last week.
Cornet, who knocked out last year's finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday, got a walkover into the last four on Friday when Serena Williams [Images] pulled out of their quarter-final with a back injury.
Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova progressed to the quarter-finals on Thursday when Belarussian Victoria Azarenka retired with a knee injury from their third round match when the former was 6-2 1-0 ahead.
Both of the semi-finals and one of the quarters at last week's Rome Masters ended early because of injury.
(Reporting by Paul Virgo, editing by Alan Baldwin)
© Copyright 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
|
Advertisement
Email this Article 
Print this Article