Rome - The injury jinx which wrecked men's play a week ago struck on Saturday at the women's event in Rome, with second seed Maria Sharapova pulling out of her semi-final match with Jelena Jankovic before the start of play. It was the second time in two days at the Foro Italico that a player had quit before a match. On Friday, Serena Williams strained her back and handed a walkover to French teenager Alize Cornet at the WTA Rome Masters.
The 18-year-old from Nice was facing Russian sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze later for a spot in the final against fourth-seeded Jankovic.
Sharapova, who will take over number one in the world on Monday with the retirement from the game of Justine Henin, has struggled all week, with a pair of three-set matches and tiebreakers in her last two outings on the clay.
In addition, she played at night as a showcase attraction on two occasions.
A week ago at the men's Masters Series, Andy Roddick (back) and Radek Stepanek (illness) withdrew on another day of scheduling disaster, both playing just a handful of matches before packing it in.
