Ash Barty has advanced past the injured Camila Giorgi to reach her first grasscourt semifinal - and first at a WTA Premier tournament.
Birmingham, UK, 24 June 2017 | Matt Trollope
Barty was controlling the match with a 5-2 lead when the Italian called for the trainer and then abruptly called it quits without attempting to play on.
The result sends Barty through to a last-four clash with the Spaniard, who also advanced via retirement when CoCo Vandeweghe withdrew from their quarterfinal early in the third set.
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“Yeah I do remember (my last WTA semifinal) but this is my first Premier one, so that’s cool,” Barty told the on-court interviewer.
“You certainly don’t want to win a match like this … she’s played a lot of tennis this week, already won five matches (from qualifying).”
Barty’s last semifinal came in Kuala Lumpur earlier in 2017, a tournament she went on to win for her first WTA title.
The world No.77 also advances to her first semifinal on grass; her previous best results were quarterfinals in Nottingham the past two years.
Barty has already faced Muguruza once this week in Birmingham; along with Casey Dellacqua, the Aussie duo beat Muguruza and Dominika Cibulkova to reach the doubles semifinals.