The in-form Simona Halep reached the semi-finals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia with a clinical straight-sets victory over Anett Kontaveit on Friday.

The classy Halep won the Madrid Open last weekend after reaching the last four of the Stuttgart Open and could claim back-to-back titles in Rome after dispatching qualifier Kontaveit 6-2 6-4.

Kontaveit hammered Angelique Kerber in the second round, but was no match for Halep as the sixth seed gave another demonstration that she is capable of challenging for a first grand slam title at the French Open.

Either Kiki Bertens or Daria Gavrilova will stand in the way of the world number four and a place in another final at the Foro Italico this weekend.

Halep beat Kontaveit in the Miami Open recently and wasted no time in gaining the upper hand over the Estonian, breaking twice to take a 3-0 lead.

Kontaveit stopped the rot by breaking back with a powerful backhand winner down the line, but the Romanian was a set up in only 34 minutes.

Halep unleashed some brutal groundstrokes as she pressed home her advantage to surge into a 4-1 lead in the second, but Kontaveit broke back with another fierce backhand.

But the 2014 French Open runner-up's passage into the last four was secured when the battling Kontaveit fired a backhand wide.