Halep beats Bertens to reach Rome final

Simona Halep of Romania hits a return to Kiki Bertens of Netherlands during the WTA Tennis Open tournament at the Foro Italico, on May 20, 2017 in Rome. / AFP PHOTO / TIZIANA FABI

Romania’s Simona Halep reached her first final in the WTA event at the Rome Masters on Saturday after sweeping Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 7-5, 6-1 in their semifinal clash.

Halep, the number six seed who reached the semifinals in the Italian capital in 2013 and 2015, will now meet the winner of the other semifinal between Garbine Muguruza and Elina Svitolina.

Muguruza, the defending French Open champion, ended American Venus Williams’ run on Friday while Ukrainian eighth seed Svitolina stunned Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova.

Heavy downpours and storms in the Italian capital which began on Friday night mean organisers are playing catch-up in a bid to bring the event to a close by Sunday.

Serbian second seed Novak Djokovic, a four-time champion, took a one-set lead over quarter-final opponent Juan del Potro of Argentina.

But their quarter-final match has yet to be completed after play was halted with Del Potro leading 2-1 in the second set.

Despite thunderstorms and heavy rain throughout the night the bad weather finally abated at midday (1000 GMT), prompting organisers to announce: “We’re working hard to start as soon as possible.”

The first men’s semi-final is between 20-year-old German starlet Alexander Zverev and big-serving American John Isner.

Austria’s Dominic Thiem, who sent seven-time champion Rafael Nadal crashing out in their quarter-final, is set to face the winner of the Djokovic-Del Potro quarter-final later in the day.