Rome Masters: Carla Suarez Navarro to face Maria Sharapova in final

Spanish 10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro kept herself in contention for her only second title after she defeated second seed Simona Halep 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 for a fourth win out of four against the Romanian in the semi-final of the Italian Open.

Suarez Navarro will face the two-time Rome champion, Maria Sharapova, who had to work extremely hard to defeat Australia-based Russian Daria Gavrilova 7-5 6-3 in the other semi-final, the BBC reported.

Suarez Navarro, who is the form player on the WTA tour this year with 31 wins, will be in search for her second career title against Sharapova.

Sharapova will go on as the second seed at the French Open after this victory of hers against Gavrilova, combined with Halep's loss.

Sharapova, however, leads 3-1 in their head-to-head encounters but the Italian Open decider will be their first meeting on clay.