maria sarobova pulled out

Maria Sharapova pulled out of tournament.

Tennis

Sharapova pulls out of Italian Open semifinals: Maria Sharapova of Russia pulled out of the Italian Open semifinals in Rome because of a strained left calf Saturday, two days before she is to assume the No. 1 ranking because of Justine Henin's retirement last week.

Sharapova said the injury would not affect her preparations for the French Open, which begins next weekend.

"I don't think so. It's a strain," she said. "They said I need maybe three days off before they test it again."

Sharapova had been scheduled to play defending champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. In today's final, Jankovic will meet Alize Cornet of France.

Cornet, 18, became the first female qualifier to reach the Italian Open final in several decades by defeating sixth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

On Friday, American Serena Williams withdrew from the quarterfinals with a back problem.

Federer, Nadal reach Hamburg Masters final: Rafael Nadal of Spain beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 to protect his No. 2 world ranking and advance to the Hamburg Masters final in Germany against the world's top-ranked player.

Nadal will face No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland in today's final, a rematch of last year's championship match in which Federer won his fourth Hamburg title and ended Nadal's' 81-match winning streak on clay — his lone win over Nadal on the relatively slow surface.

Federer overwhelmed Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 6-1.