This content was published 4 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.
Karolina Pliskova remained on course to successfully defend her Internazionali BNL d’Italia title, overcoming compatriot Marketa Vondrousova 6-2 6-4 to book a final spot against top seed Simona Halep.
Pliskova was impressive on serve, achieved great depth on her shots and displayed excellent timing on the ball as she powered her way to a straight sets victory over the world No.19, who was hampered by fatigue having spent eight hours 42 minutes on court ahead of this match.
The No.2 seed recorded her first break of the match in the fourth game, capitalising on her opponent’s poor footwork and punishing her with some powerful hitting. She saved one break point in the seventh game but otherwise was solid on serve, and broke again in the next game to wrap up the first set after 33 minutes.
The Czech players traded breaks at the beginning of the second set and several competitive games followed. Pliskova continued with her clinical ball-striking – she hit 23 winners in the match – pushing the 2019 Roland Garros finalist back behind the baseline and refusing to allow her into the match.
The world No.3 broke to take a 4-2 lead but showed signs of tightening up and allowed Vondrousova to immediately recover the break. A decisive break in the tenth game ended the match and sent Pliskova into her second straight Rome final
“I guess here with every round I feel better. I had tough opponents, but every match I feel like my level is a little bit higher. The girls are tough on clay, so of course clay has never been, like, my favorite surface, but now I know that I can play some great tennis and I can win tournaments on clay, too,” said Pliskova.
“And I’m enjoying. I think it’s great. Although all these restrictions are quite tough, but just to be back in Rome and competing.”
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