Simona Halep retires against Kerber while Iga Swiatek marches on in Rome

Simona Halep was cruising in her match before retiring in the 2nd set while Iga Swiatek convincingly moved on to the next round.

Simona Halep and Iga Swiatek played very similar matches but regrettably, the Romanian player was forced to retire in her match while Swiatek won hers. Swiatek was the first on the courts to take on Madison Keys. She did not start too well and found herself down early.

The lead grew to 3-5 and after that, it was like a lightbulb went on inside Swiatek's head. It was 3-5 and 40-0 to Keys and Iga was able to pull out not only that game but also that set. She won it 7-5 after sensational play which continued in the 2nd set as well.

She completely smashed Keys in the 2nd set leading first 3-0 then 5-0 and ultimately won the set with 6-1. It was an absurd comeback from Swiatek who was facing three set points in the first set. From that moment won she went on a 10-1 run to close out the match and move on.

She won't be joined there by Simona Halep but rather Angelique Kerber who moves to the next round after Simona retired from the match. The first set was a sensational display from Halep who completely dominated the rallies in the match, winning the opening set 6-1. Kerber simply could not win a single rally that mattered.

In the 2nd set Halep jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and even had 40-15 in that game but after that everything changed. She started losing points much easier than before and at 3-3 took a medical timeout. Not long after that, she retired due to a cal injury that looked quite bad. Get well soon!