Following an impressive on-court display from both ladies, Simona Halep and Carla Suarez Navarro will meet to determine who will advance to the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Saturday. This is a close and competitive series, as Halep leads the head-to-head series 5-4. However, Navarro has won all four of their clay court encounters.

Seeded second at this year’s tournament, Simona Halep reached the semi-final stage of the Rome Open when she defeated Alexandra Dulgheru in straight sets to secure her spot. It was a dominant showing on court, as Halep defeated her opponent 6-1, 6-0 in four minutes under an hour of court time. Through three matches this week, Halep has dropped just seven games in total, which is quite a remarkable stat.

“Today it was a pretty good match, I was very solid,” Halep said. “She was tired as well because she had many long matches before today, so I had an advantage over her.

“It’s not easy to play against one Romanian, but during the match you forget against who you play, just go on court and do your job.”

In an exceptionally impressive performance on Friday afternoon, Carla Suarez Navarro toppled fourth seed Petra Kvitova in straight sets to upset her way into the tournament final. She won 74% of her first service points, saved five break points and converted five of her own to close out the match 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 13 minutes.

This marks the tenth time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour. Halep leads the head-to-head series 5-4 but it should also be noted that all four of her losses to the Spaniard were on clay. Given Navarro’s remarkable showing on Friday against Kvitova, it is very likely that she will find her way into the tournament final.