ROME — Tenth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain fought through her nerves and rallied past No. 2 Simona Halep 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 Saturday to reach the Italian Open final.
Aiming for her second career title, Suarez Navarro will face either two-time Rome champion Maria Sharapova or qualifier Daria Gavrilova, who were playing later.
Suarez Navarro improved to 4-0 for her career against Halep on clay, creating trouble for the Romanian with her one-handed backhand.
She needed seven set points to close out the second set and three to end the third.
The match lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours.