Florianopolis, Brazil (SportsNetwork.com) - Top seed Carla Suarez Navarro was a quarterfinal winner Thursday at the Brasil Tennis Cup.
The Spaniard was leading 4-1 in the third set against Monica Niculescu when the reigning Florianopolis champion retired.
The fifth-seeded Romanian claimed the first set 6-4 before Suarez Navarro rallied to take the second set 6-0. Niculescu was broken in her final five service games.
Up next for Suarez Navarro will be Klara Zakopalova. The third-seeded Czech also landed in the final four via a retirement. Zakopalova, who was last week's runner-up in Rio de Janeiro, was leading 6-3, 5-2 when Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru called it quits.
Friday's other semifinal will pit Spain's Garbine Muguruza against Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova. The second-seeded Muguruza outlasted Belgian qualifier Alison Van Uytvanck 6-2, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3 and Shvedova ousted sixth- seeded Romanian Alexandra Cadantu 6-3, 6-3.
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.