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
Antonela Roccuzzo's husband is said to have been big deal for Cruz Beckham's father
Al Nassr player is "toughest opponent" for popular Premier League Hall of Fame player
Al Nassr player is back with Portugal after missing friendly against Sweden
Camp will see players prepare for upcoming series against New Zealand, England as well as T20I World Cup
From triumph to tribulation: Undertaker's WrestleMania missteps revealed
Sharing three pictures of them together, Malik captioned the post: "Happy Birthday Sana Shoaib Malik"