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Maria Sharapova was cut short of her returning to the finals at the BNL Internazionali D’Italia Saturday.
The world No.1 Simona Halep did everything to bring together the difficult task of taking the former number one on Corte Centrale but did so in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 at Foro Italico in Rome. The Romanian’s efforts once again had her back in the Sunday’s final for a second straight year.
The world No.1 was one match from reaching the finals for a second straight yet but getting through Sharapova would prove extremely hard.
The Russian has had a week of performing with loss of focus and moments of complete dominance.
In Friday’s battle against Jelena Ostapenko, the 31 year old had to take certain measures from her skills to outduel the world number five.
With 1000 points at stake and the chance to move back to the top 20, the Russian superstar would try to make it eight against the Romanian and the first since the 2017 U.S. Open.
The Romanian opened by breaking Sharapova straight up to get her game warmed up. She made a difficult task for the Russian to win the next game but did so after a few breaks.
The set was already showing its difficulties for the former world No.1 who committed two double faults through two and a half games. Unforced errors were also a big factor that gave Halep a break to love.
She continued to lead after five running the same way as she did versus Caroline Garcia with breaks by the players.
Not wanting to get into a comfortable position for the Romanian, Sharapova changed things up with a hold in the seventh that gave her a better grip on offense.
She made it 5-3 breaking Halep with well-placed winners and some help from her opponent who let timing issue get the best of her.
She made a statement of not letting Sharapova get anything from her service game in the ninth but as soon as the former number one got back to serve, she brought the set to a close after 47 minutes hitting hard with the forehand.
Despite having 19 errors her 15 winners were the only key to getting through the set with Halep underperforming.
During the break, she mentioned that to coach Darren Cahill who had solutions to give his player a change in contention.
The 26-year-old showed her will to keep fighting that forced her to deuce with the use of the backhand.
After three breaks, she earned the game against the former number one to break. The Russian leveled the score at one all before the world number one answered with a service hold in the third.
She opened a 3-1 lead on Sharapova who was struggling to wrangle in her offense.
Halep had a 4-1 run making it look like a third set was possible. When she took her own serve swiftly, the world number one attacked with all her energy to clear the way for a deciding set to go into play taking the set 6-1 after 39 minutes.
Sharapova found herself in a third consecutive match that would go the distance. While the set moved a lot faster than the others, the leverage was in the hands of the 26 year old who had a lot running on containing her number one status.
Sharapova began scoring in the decider breaking Halep before she was broken herself in the very next game.
The Romanian wanted the lead outright and did a lot of work with the help of errors from the Russian to gain a 3-1 hold.
Sharapova answered back with a serious push to level herself with Halep in the sixth inflicting so much power in her shots. The two-hour mark had past making it a very long tournament for the 30-year-old.
Her endurance was running out as Halep had her grip on her game while Sharapova’s fell apart. She took the ninth with a big service hold that put Sharapova under tremendous pressure.
Adding errors in the game, she handed Halep two match points which came on yet another error ending the two-hour 23-minute ordeal that set up a rematch of 2017 final.
Sharapova had 42 errors that were too much to stop the Romanian who had double-digit errors as well but managed to limit them throughout.
Her fight to dictate a portion of the final set got her within reach to change the course of history. For a second time, she will try to outduel defending champion Elina Svitolina in Sunday’s matchup.
