Simona Halep to play for elusive Italian Open title after 13th straight win
Top seed to face Karolina Plísková on Monday in her 3rd Rome final
Chasing her first title in Rome, top-seeded Simona Halep reached her third Italian Open final after beating Garbine Muguruza 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 Sunday to improve her record in tennis' restart to 9-0.
Muguruza struggled with her serve and double faulted on the final two points of the two-hour 16-minute match.
Halep, who lost to Elina Svitolina in the 2017 and 2018 finals, will face Karolina Plísková in Monday's championship match.
"I'm not playing (Svitolina), so I have a plus," Halep said. "I have just to manage it a little bit better than previous years. Now I'm more mature. So let's hope that I can be better tomorrow and to win it."
WATCH | Simona Halep outlasts Garbine Muguruza in semifinals:
The second-ranked Halep is 13-0 overall stretching back to February, when she won a title in Dubai. After the tour's five-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Romanian returned by raising another trophy in Prague last month. She then skipped the U.S. Open due to travel and health concerns.
Plísková defeated fellow Czech and last year's French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova 6-2, 6-4.
Plísková dictated play against Vondrousova with her serve, hitting six aces to Vondrousova's one and saving five of the seven break points she faced.
WATCH | Plísková dispatches fellow Czech Vondrousova:
After fans had not been allowed in at the Foro Italico all week, 1,000 spectators were being admitted in for the semifinals and finals.
