Suarez Navarro upsets Halep to reach Rome final
Simona Halep was caught cold by an excellent fightback from Carla Suarez Navarro, who will contest the Internazionali BNL d'Italia final.
Carla Suarez Navarro defeated a top-two ranked player for the first time in her career as she fought back from a set down to upset Simona Halep and reach the final of the WTA Internazionali d'Italia
Halep appeared to be in cruise control as she moved a set and a break ahead in the semi-final showdown on Saturday, but Suarez Navarro showed her fighting qualities to earn a 2-6 6-3 7-5 victory over the world number two.
Suarez Navarro became the first player on the WTA Tour to reach 30 wins for the season on Friday when beating Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals, but things looked bleak when Halep - who routed fellow Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru in their last-eight meeting - comfortably won the first set.
However, Suarez Navarro reeled off six of the next eight games to storm back and level the match, before the final set saw both players struggle to hold serve amid some excellent returning.
There were no holds in the opening eight games and it was Halep who broke the streak to finally hold for 5-4.
At that stage, Suarez Navarro was staring down the barrel of defeat when she fell 0-30 down on her own serve.
But once again the 10th seed fought back and, after breaking for a 6-5 lead, she clinched the win on her third match-point when Halep put a forehand into the net for her 60th unforced error of the match.
The Spaniard will now meet the winner of the other semi-final between Maria Sharapova and Daria Gavrilova.