Amelie Mauresmo reached the Dubai Open final after Serbia's Jelena Jankovic retired through injury when trailing 6-2 on Friday.
The second seed will face holder Justine Henin, who overcame Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 to boost her record against the Russian to 13 wins in 14 meetings.
Mauresmo's match was full of incident. Play was first interrupted when a cat walked on to the court and then Greek umpire Eva Asderaki became confused with the score at 4-2.
The Frenchwoman summoned referee Alan Mills as the score was corrected from 30-30 to 40-15 in her favour.
In the following game, fifth seed Jankovic collapsed after injuring her left ankle going for a backhand.
She played five more points after treatment but conceded the match after dropping her serve.
"I was so scared I was shaking," Jankovic told reporters. "It was a shock for me.
"It was hurting really badly and right away it was swollen. The trainer put on some tape but it was so painful I couldn't serve or land on my foot."
Mauresmo felt she was on the way to victory anyway.
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