This content was published 7 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni has progressed to the third round at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia after Maria Sharapova retired with a left thigh injury when leading 2-1 in the final set.

The Russian took a lengthy medical time out at deuce in the third game of the decider and while she tried to continue on her return to the court her movement remained visibly hampered and she conceded defeat at the end of that game.

The opening two sets had been closely contested with one break of serve in each deciding the outcome. Lucic-Baroni broke Sharapova in the first game of the match and remained in front throughout that opening set, saving the only break point she faced with a cross-court forehand.

In the second set Sharapova raced to a 5-2 lead before serving it out to claim the second set 6-3. The three-time former Italian Open champion had the edge in the final set after breaking in the opening game but was unable to complete the match after injury struck.

The Croatian will face either No. 1 seed Angelique Kerber or qualifier Anett Kontaveit in the third round.