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 semi-final clash. Halep, the number six seed who reached the semi-finals in the Italian capital in 2013 and 2015, will now meet the winner of the other semi-final 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.