Top seed Simona Halep took the first semi-final berth at the Italian Open on Saturday when Kazakh rival Yulia Putintseva retired during their match on Saturday.
The world number two was leading 6-2, 2-0 in the quarter-final clash on clay in Rome when Putintseva signaled that she was retiring after 45 minutes of play with a lower back injury.
Putintseva, ranked 30, had reached the quarter-finals of the recent hardcourt US Open, a tournament which Halep skipped because of coronavirus concerns.
Halep next meets either Belarussian Victoria Arazenka or Spaniard Garbine Muguruza for a place in the final of the clay-court tournament.
It is the fifth time that former French Open champion Halep has reached the last four in Rome. (Punch)