Round-Up: Garbine Muguruza and Ashleigh Barty progress to semis after opponents retire in Birmingham

ByJen Offord

Updated 23/06/2017 at 19:49 GMT

Garbine Muguruza and Ashleigh Barty set up places in the Birmingham classic semi-finals after their opponents were forced to retire due to injury on Friday.

Muguruza went a set down against Vandeweghe, who knocked her out of the Australian Open in January, but fought back to claim the second set.

Vandeweghe fell on her right ankle during Muguruza's comeback, and was forced to retire just two points into the third, deciding set.

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Barty was off to a strong start against Giorgi, and was close to winning the first set 5-2 up, when Giorgi was forced to retire.

Petra Kvitova continued her comeback from injury with a victory over Kristina Mladenovic in the quarter-finals at the Birmingham classic on Friday.

The Czech was playing her fifth match since returning from surgery on her left hand after she was stabbed during a burglary of her home six months ago.

Though Kvitova is not yet fully recovered she showed encouraging sings with a win over world number 12 Mladenovic 6-4 7-6 (7/5), looking dominant for the most part.

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Kvitova will next play her fellow Czech Lucie Safarova, who survived a three-hour ordeal against Daria Gavrilova.

Earlier, Lucie Safarova got the better of Daria Gavrilova after a three hour epic battle in the Aegon Classic at Birmingham on Friday.

It was the second time this week that Sarafova had comeback to snatch victory after narrowly avoiding defeat by Dominika Cibulkova in the round of 16.

Safarova saved three match points against Australian Gavrilova - the No.9 seed - to secure a 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(5) victory, booking herself a place in the semi-finals.

Safarova will play Kvitova in the semi-finals, while Muruguza will take on Barty.

Lucie safarova triumphs in Aegon Classic quarter finals

Image credit: Getty Images

Aegon classic quarter-final results

Ashleigh Barty (AUS) beat Camila Giorgi (ITA) 5-2A

Garbine Muguruza (ESP) [6] beat Coco Vandeweghe (US) 4-6 6-4 0-0A

Petra Kvitova (CZE) [7] beat Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) [5] 6-4 7-6 (7-5)

Lucie Safarova (CZE) beat Daria Gavrilova (AUS) [9] 6-7(4) 6-3 7-6(5)

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