Pliskova unstoppable against Sakkari in Rome, to face Konta in final

Karolina Pliskova overcame a slow start and pounced right at the end to beat Maria Sakkari in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, 6-4, 6-4, setting up a final clash with Johanna Konta.

Sakkari came into the match full of confidence—not only had she come through qualifying and made it all the way to the semifinals of the Premier 5-level event, but she had also won her only previous meeting with Pliskova, beating the Czech right here in Rome a year ago in the second round.

And early on it looked like another upset was brewing as Sakkari not only broke at love to go up 2-1 but almost went up a double break, too, getting another break point with Pliskova serving 2-4, 30-40.

But Pliskova fought that break point off and took the next four games in a row to sneak out the opening set, and after nine straight holds to start the second set the Czech caught fire in an instant, breaking at love to swiftly close out the Greek qualifier after an hour and 28 minutes on court.

Pliskova didn’t immediately realize she’d won the match. “I thought it was 4-3! I thought it was break point. I felt bad about it after because everybody was celebrating but I was like, ‘Okay let’s go serve!’”

Both players struggled with unforced errors in the match—Pliskova finished with a -8 differential of winners to unforced errors, 13 to 21, while Sakkari had a -7 differential, 22 to 29. But Pliskova was much sharper on break points, converting three of five—meanwhile, Sakkari converted one of five.

“I still don’t feel like I’m playing my best tennis,” Pliskova said. “The conditions weren’t perfect, and it’s tough to play your best against Maria, because she has a tricky game on clay. That’s why she got to the semis here. But I’m still super happy, because before and during the tournament I haven’t been feeling like I’m playing amazing. So this means a lot to me. I’m really happy to do this before Paris.”

At the end of the day, Pliskova battled through to the milestone 25th WTA final of her career—she has an even 12-12 record in her first 24 WTA finals. She’s a win away from the equal-biggest title of her career—it would tie her 2016 triumph in Cincinnati, which is also a Premier 5-level tournament.

Awaiting Pliskova in the final will be Konta, who upset World No. 4 Kiki Bertens in the first semifinal of the day, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. Konta was a game away from losing—she served to stay in the match at 5-7, 4-5—but she ran away with it from there, winning nine of the next 11 games to move into the final.

“Kiki’s playing some of the best tennis of her career right now,” Konta said. “She just came off winning Madrid, she’s in amazing form, she’s No. 4 in the world, she’s one of the best players right now. I knew there wasn’t going to be one solution out there—it was going to be a continuous adjustment, a contunious openness to figure it out during the match, and I thought I did that quite well today.

“In the third I was able to maintain my level a bit better than her, and that gave me the upper hand.”

Konta, a former No. 4 herself, is currently down at No. 42 after a difficult few years - but she’s now a win away from the second-biggest title of her career, having won the Premier Mandatory-level event in Miami in 2017. Win or lose in the final, she’ll be back in the Top 30 when the new rankings are out.

Pliskova leads Konta in their head-to-head, 5-1, though Konta’s win actually came in their most recent meeting at Beijing in 2016 in a third set tie-break. Their last five meetings have all gone to three sets.