DAY 8 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia saw three matches take place, with one player taking the court twice and reigning supreme on both occasions to head into the Rome final. Expect a huge clash between ninth seed Czech Karolina Pliskova and 15th seed Pole Iga Swiatek in the final, with the former a well-established winner and the latter continuing to build off excellent form this season.

Rain delays during the quarter finals pushed back Swiatek’s clash with fifth seed Elina Svitolina, but that did not stop the 19-year-old Pole from dominating the early stage of their matchup to claim the 6-2 7-5 victory and set up a battle of the teens in the semi finals.

Despite everything 17-year-old Coco Gauff threw at Swiatek – including seven aces – it was not quite enough to steal a win against her fellow teen, just falling short in their 7-6(2) 6-3 matchup.

“I’m still kind of pumped up, so it’s hard to say because adrenaline is still here,” Swiatek said post-match. “I’m still pretty young so hopefully I’m going to be ready for tomorrow. I think so.”

“I felt really good today; it’s a big difference between my previous matches and today,” she said. “I was able to beat Elina, so that shows that my game is here, I’m ready for anyone. It gave me a real confidence boost.”

It was the teen duo’s first WTA clash, and a tough one at that which saw Gauff hit 33 winners to 32 unforced errors, compared to Swiatek’s marginally cleaner 25 and 16. While Gauff claimed the better percentage off her first serve, Swiatek won more points and was more consistent off both her first and second serve, winning 54 per cent of the total points to take out the win.

“It’s always hard to play against a young superstar, especially when I’m not used to that because I was always the youngest one,” Swiatek said. “I just tried to have a high level of energy, even though it was my second match. I was feeling really good [receiving]. I know her biggest weapon is serve, so I tried to use that. Also tactically I did everything really well.”

Swiatek will take on hard-hitting Pliskova, as the Czech ninth seed returns for her third straight Internazionali BNL d’Italia final this week following a 6-1 3-6 6-2 victory over Petra Martic in the semis.

“I think the first and third set, they were super solid for me, playing the game I want to play, not really going for crazy shots, but super solid,” Pliskova said. “Quite good serve today. I think it was a good match.”

Pliskova required one hour and 54 minutes to overcome Martic, with only a shoddy second set getting in the way of victory. The Czech hit a whopping 37 winners but 30 unforced errors to go with it, as Martic’s excellent run of form was cut short by her own 34 unforced errors.

“I hope I will feel better, and maybe more relaxed a bit, to go to the other tournaments in the next couple weeks, months, with this kind of result,” Pliskova said. “With having the matches I had this week, overcoming some situations which I had this week, and beating some players: Martic, for example, I never beat on clay. For sure this gives me some strength.”

INTERNAZIONALI BNL D’ITALIA SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[15] Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated Coco Gauff (USA) 7-6 6-3
[9] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated Petra Martic (CRO) 6-1 3-6 6-2

INTERNAZIONALI BNL D’ITALIA QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[15] Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated [5] Elina Svitolina (UKR) 6-2 7-5

Picture credit: WTA/Jimmie48