Women's top seed Ashleigh Barty of Australia retired with a right arm injury in her Italian Open quarter-final against Cori Gauff ©Getty Images

The top seeds at the Italian Open endured a difficult day in Rome, with Ashleigh Barty of Australia retiring hurt, and Novak Djokovic trailing when rain forced his match to be carried over to the following day.

At the joint Association of Tennis Professionals Masters 1000 and Women’s Tennis Association 1000 tournament, the biggest story on the women’s side came when Barty retired despite taking the first set against American teenager Coco Gauff.

The Australian led 6-4, 2-1 before pulling out of the contest with a right arm injury.

Speaking after the match Barty explained the injury had been a recurring problem throughout her career and that due to the severity of the pain and with the French Open, the year’s second Grand Slam tournament, just over two weeks away, she made the difficult decision not to finish the match.

Meanwhile in the men’s event, Serbia's Djokovic was trailing fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece by a set and a break at 6-4, 2-1 when rain forced their contest to be suspended for the day.

The most eagerly anticipated match that was completed on the men’s side was a rematch between Rafael Nadal of Spain, the second seed, and Alexander Zverev of Germany, the sixth seed.

Men's top seed Novak Djokovic was trailing by a set and a break when rain forced his Italian Open quarter-final to be suspended ©Getty Images
Men's top seed Novak Djokovic was trailing by a set and a break when rain forced his Italian Open quarter-final to be suspended ©Getty Images

Zverev last week knocked Nadal out in Madrid at the last eight stage but the Spaniard reversed the form at the same stage at the Foro Italico, winning 6-3, 6-4 to snap his three match losing streak against the German, who went on to win in Spain.

The other men’s quarter-final that was completed saw Reilly Opelka of the United States continue his record of not having dropped a set at the tournament as he defeated Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis 7-5, 7-6 (7-2).

Along with the completion of Djokovic and Tsitsipas, Lorenzo Sonego of Italy will take on Russia’s Andrey Rublev tomorrow to complete the semi-final line-up.

On the women’s side, ninth seed Karolína Plíšková of the Czech Republic came from a set down to win a thrilling contest with Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

Plíšková, the 2019 champion in Rome, saved three match points in the deciding set on the way to triumphing 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) in two hours and 20 minutes.

The other completed quarter-final saw Petra Martić of Croatia defeat Jessica Pegula of the United States 7-5, 6-4.

The remaining last-eight match has been carried over to tomorrow due to the weather, and it pits Iga Świątek of Poland against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.