Rafael Nadal into French Open semi-finals after Pablo Carreño Busta retires with injury

Rafael Nadal booked his place in the semi-finals of the French Open after his opponent Pablo Carreño Busta was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Weather disruptions on Tuesday (6 June) saw the quarter-final encounter between the two Spaniards, and the other last eight match between Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem, pushed to Wednesday morning.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Nadal sealed the opening set 6-2 at a canter but after just two games of the second, Carreño Busta was forced to quit due to an abdominal problem following just 50 minutes of action.

During the changeover, the world no.21 called for a medical time out as he clutched his stomach, receiving some treatment on court before deciding to continue.

But signs of the injury were evident as he struggled to stretch for Nadal's thumping baseline returns, taking the decision to retire before causing any more damage.

Pictures to emerge after the contest was over showed the Spaniard wearing heavy bandaging over the area. He becomes the seventh player forced to withdraw from the competition this year.

Nadal is chasing his 10<sup>th win at Roland Garros and will take on either Djokovic or Thiem in the last four after benefiting from the seventh mid-match retirement in the men's draw in Paris.