Carla Suarez Navarro set up the final against Maria Sharapova at the WTA Premier in Rome. Suarez Navarro rallied from a set and a break down at 2-6 0-1 to battle past Simona Halep in a thrilling marathon match with 2-6 6-3 7-5.The Spanish player bounced back reeling off six of the next eight points to clinch the second set with 6-3. Diego Sampaolo
After a series of breaks in the first eight games of the third set Halep managed to hold her serve to take a 5-4 lead. Suarez Navarro recovered from 0-30 to hold her serve before breaking serve in the 11th game. Suarez Navarro clinched a hard-fought win on her third match point as Halep hit her forehand into the net. The Spanish player, who has reached the top-ten after reaching the Miami final and won 31 matches this year, won for the first time in her career against a top-2 player
Suarez Navarro will face two-time Rome champion Maria Sharapova who avenged her recent defeat in Miami against qualifier Daria Gavrilova with a 7-5 6-3 win over her younger opponent who reached her first semifinal. Sharapova had to di deep to clinch the first set with 7-5 after one hour. Gavrilova broke serve for 3-1 in the second set but Sharaopova fought back winning five consecutive games to clinch her spot in the final.
Next week Sharapova will return to second place in the WTA Ranking following the defeat of Halep in the semifinal.
Sharapova leads 3-1 in her head-to-head matches against Suarez Navarro.
“Suarez Navarro has one one of the best one-handed backhands on the tour. It’s going to be a tough final”, said Sharapova