Konta, Pliskova reach final in Rome

Great Britain's Johanna Konta upset sixth-seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome on Saturday.

Konta rallied after dropping the first set to stun Bertens, who was riding an eight-match winning streak. While Bertens was dominant on serve (10 aces vs. one for Konta), she also had 10 double faults during the nearly three-hour match.

It's Konta's second final in three clay-court tournaments this season, following a runner-up finish in Morocco earlier this month.

"I'm very pleased to be in the final here," said Konta afterward. "It's my second biggest final behind Miami (in 2017). That's a big achievement in my career so far. I'm definitely very conscious and appreciative of this opportunity, of this situation."

"I've never really doubted my ability on the surface. I don't necessarily feel like this is massively out of the blue or super wow. I'm definitely pleased."

Coming off her win at the Madrid Open, Bertens ran out of gas.

"She played really smart with the drop shots," Bertens said. "I was all the time getting myself together and trying to push for more energy. But it was not there."

In the final, Konta will face fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who beat Maria Sakkari of Greece in the other semifinal 6-4, 6-4.

"Karolina, she's been at the top of the game for years now," Konta said of her opponent in the final before learning who she'd face. "She's able to perform on all surfaces. She's able to really show up to every match. She's very difficult to play in that sense because she has a big serve, she has big shots, but she's also backing it up with being incredibly astute on court."

Pliskova, who won her 500th career match in the quarterfinals, reached the final in the Italian capital for the first time. She'll move up to No. 4 in the world when the new rankings are released next week.

Pliskova broke Sakkari three times and had a 76 percent win rate on first serves to set up Sunday's final.

--Field Level Media