The 31-year-old Halep lost in the first round to Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur at Flushing Meadows, US.
Browsing: Simona Halep
In temperatures of 32C, Cornet won 6-4 3-6 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of a major for the first time.
World No 3 Halep has not played since suffering a calf injury at the Italian Open last month
The world’s No. 3 player sustained the injury in May during the second round of a clay-court tournament in Rome and missed the French Open.
Halep had sailed through the first two rounds on the Spanish clay without dropping a set but she ended up second best in a match which yielded 15 breaks of serve.
“Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that I tested positive for COVID-19,” the 29-year-old Romanian said on Twitter on Saturday.
The 19-year-old, who thrashed Romania’s top seed Simona Halep on Sunday to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final, looked tight as she trailed 3-1 after a long wait to get on court
World number two Halep, 28, was competing in her third Rome WTA final, having finished runner-up in 2017 and 2018 on the clay at the Foro Italico.
Pliskova, the second seed, beat fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals of the final warm-up tournament on clay before the French Open.
The unseeded Spaniard arrived at Melbourne Park with low expectations but will now face American 14th seed Sofia Kenin bidding to win her third major title after emerging from a period in the Grand Slam wilderness.
Muguruza is unseeded but has shown some of the form that brought her the French Open title in 2016 and Wimbledon a year later to put together her best run at Melbourne Park.
The world number six, who ended the year as world number one in 2017 and 2018, withdrew when trailing 5-4 in the first set against the Kazakh wildcard.
Townsend fought back from losing the opening set to record a shock 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over the Romanian at Flushing Meadows in New York.
Simona Halep has been the biggest story of the Romanian sport in the last couple of years and one of the most significant ones in the past couple of decades, lifting the first Wimbledon trophy to become a national hero.
An inspired Halep took full advantage of an error-strewn display by seven-times champion Williams to become the first Romanian to win a Wimbledon singles title.
Teenage sensation, Amanda Anisimova, blew defending champion Simona Halep out of the French Open 6-2 6-4 in a quarterfinal shock on Thursday, setting her sights on the Suzanne Lenglen Cup in a wide open draw.
Halep was scheduled to play her first match on Wednesday as part of a star-studded line-up which includes world No 1 Naomi Osaka and reigning Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber.
Serena Williams will make her long-awaited return to the Italian Open this year, along with several other big-name players.
Former world number one, Simona Halep, has appointed Thierry Van Cleemput as her new coach and will officially begin working with the Belgian at next week’s Qatar Open.
Serena Williams staved off a spectacular fightback from world number one Simona Halep to win 6-1 4-6 6-4 and reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Monday.