Johanna Konta stuns Kiki Bertens to continue magnificent Rome run
Johanna Konta is into her second clay final in the space of a few weeks after upsetting Kiki Bertens in the semi-final of the Italian Open.
The British No 1 finished runner-up to Maria Sakkarai at the Morocco Open a fortnight ago, but she has a chance to win her first WTA Tour title of the year after reaching the final in Rome.
Konta, who beat the likes of Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens en route to the last four, overturned a first-set deficit to beat Madrid Open champion Bertens 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in two hours and 47 minutes.
What a match!@JohannaKonta comes from behind to halt the Bertens express and reach the @InteBNLdItalia final!
5-7, 7-5, 6-2 for the 🇬🇧!#ibi19 pic.twitter.com/WSq0FvgObr
— WTA (@WTA) May 18, 2019
After finding herself 5-4 up in the first set, Konta lost the final three games as the world No 4 took the set.
The second set started with two breaks of serve before the Brit got the crucial break in game 11 while breaks in game three and seven of the decider set up the win.
She will face either fourth seed Karolina Pliskova or Greek qualifier Sakkari in Sunday’s final.
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