Garbine Muguruza has suffered a blow in the build-up to her defence of the French Open, retiring in the first set of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia semi-final against Elina Svitolina due to a neck injury.

The Spaniard was trailing 4-1 to Svitolina when she withdrew from the match after a discussion with her trainer, handing the Ukrainian passage to Sunday's final against Simona Halep.

Muguruza's form dipped dramatically after winning her first grand slam at Roland Garros last year, but she has shown signs of improvement in 2017.

However, a fourth retirement of the year – the world number seven also pulled out of matches in Brisbane, Dubai and Miami – casts doubt over her ability to challenge in Paris.