Carla Suárez Navarro was playing the tennis of her life, beating three Top 10 players to make the final.

And the Spaniard had Sharapova on the ropes – she was two games from the victory leading 6-4, 5-5.

But Sharapova lifted her game right when it mattered most, reeling off eight of the next nine games.

At the end of the day the Russian was just too much, running away with it in the third, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Sharapova walked away with the milestone 35th WTA title of her illustrious and historic career.

It was also her third time winning the Internazionali BNL d’Italia – she won it in 2011 and 2012 too.

She has now won 21 of her last 22 matches at the Premier event – the loss came to Ana Ivanovic in 2014.

Earlier, Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic beat Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the doubles final.

Babos and Mladenovic now have three WTA doubles titles this year, winning in Dubai and Marrakech too.