Rome PHOTOS: Konta, Pliskova win semifinals

May 19, 2019

The last two players standing at the 2019 Internazionali BNL d’Italia are British Johanna Konta and Czech Karolina Pliskova.

Johanna Konta ended Kiki Bertens‘ eight-match winning streak 5-7 7-5 6-2 to record her first Top 5 victory since Wimbledon 2017 and reach her maiden Premier WTA event final on clay. The sixth-seeded Bertens struggled to adapt to windy conditions and slippery court in Rome. After four breaks of serve in the first set, two on each side, it was Bertens who broke the unseeded Konta again at set point. Konta capitalized on a break earned at 5-5 in the second set to take the semifinal into a decider, which she dominated, although she committed three unforced errors at 40-0 in the final game before completing the win.

Fourth seed Karolina Pliskova avenged her last year’s early Rome loss to Maria Sakkari by ending the Greek qualifier’s dream run with a solid 6-4 6-4 victory.

The Rome finalists have completed six encounters so far, with Pliskova leading the head-to-head 5-1, although it was Konta who won their most recent match, on the hard courts of Beijing 2016.