Halep downs Sharapova to reach Rome final

ROME: Simona Halep profited from a miserable day on serve for Maria Sharapova to reach the Italian Open final with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 defeat of the five-time Grand Slam winner on Saturday.

The Romanian world number one will bid for the title on Sunday against Elina Svitolina in a repeat of last year´s final won by the Ukrainian.

Svitolina booked her spot as she dominated Anett Kontaveit to win 6-4, 6-3 in just 74 minutes.

Halep fought back from a set down to win only her second match against Sharapova, who may have been feeling the effects of a three-hour victory the day before and was broken 10 times.

Halep has now defeated the Russian twice in a row having lost their seven previous meetings.

"She plays tough, it´s difficult to return against her," Halep said. "I tried to play my game, I didn´t think about our past.

"I did what I had to do, I changed tactics after the first set and it worked very well for me.

"Against Svitolina I must play my best, and we will see what happens."

Sharapova was burdened by nine double faults over a match lasting almost two and a half hours, taking her cumulative time on court to well over 12 hours this week